Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) carried out a large-scale longitudinal study that lasted for 2 years.

They followed infants aged from 5 to 23 weeks, mainly from a working class area of Glasgow.

Infants were observed every four weeks until they were 1 year old, then again at 18 months.

Attachment was measured in two ways:
1) Separation anxiety - crying when an adult left the room
2) Stranger anxiety - anxiety response to an unfamiliar adult.

Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants signals and facial expressions (ie. reciprocity). This was not the person who spent most time with the infant.

By 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had one specific attachment and 30% displayed multiple attachments.

Schaffer and Emerson suggested attachments develop in four stages:

1) BIRTH TO 2 MONTHS - THIS IS THE ASOCIAL OR PRE-ATTACHMENT
Babies respond to people in the same way as they do to objects, and to…