Stages of Attachment Identified by

John Bowlby And Schaffer &

Emerson (1964)
simplypsychology.org/stages-of-attachment-identified-by-john-bowlby-and-schaffer-emerson-1964.html

Key Takeaways

John Bowlby was particularly interested in the mother-child bond and its impact on the
child’s psychological development.
In contrast, Schaffer and Emerson focused more on developing social bonds, noting
that children can form multiple attachments of varying strength.
While both theories examine the attachment process, they were developed
independently and reflect different perspectives.

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 Stages John Bowlby Schaffer and Emerson

1 Pre-attachment (Birth to 6 Asocial Stage (0-2 months): Infant

Weeks): The infant does not behavior is directed at anyone or anything
discriminate between with a positive reaction, such as a smile.
caregivers.

2 Attachment-in-the-Making (6 Indiscriminate Attachment (2-7 months):

Weeks to 7 Months): Prefers Infants prefer people to inanimate objects,
familiar people but accepts but not one person specifically.
care from anyone.

3 Clear-Cut Attachment (7-24 Specific Attachment (7-9 months):

Months): Specific attachment Infants prefer particular caregivers and
to the primary caregiver(s) look to them for comfort, security,
develops. protection, and reassurance in stressful
situations.

4 Formation of Reciprocal Multiple Attachments (10-18 months):

Relationships (24 months +): Infants become increasingly independent
Children will acquire language and form attachments with multiple people
skills and better understand in their lives who respond sensitively to
the pattern of carers leaving them, including grandparents, siblings, or
and returning. neighbors.

A comparison of the stages of attachment as described by John Bowlby and Schaffer & Emerson.
These stages reflect a child’s evolving attachments and social bonds from birth onwards,
emphasizing the importance of these relationships in emotional and psychological development.

Bowlby’s phases of Attachment?

John Bowlby, a British psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, developed attachment theory, which
focuses on the importance of a secure and trusting mother-infant bond on development and
wellbeing.

He identified four phases of attachment.

These stages reflect a process where each step builds upon the last, leading to a strong,
secure attachment under ideal circumstances.

Bowlby believed that these attachments serve a crucial evolutionary function: they increase
the infant’s chance of survival by ensuring its safety and care.

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1. Pre-attachment phase (Birth to 6 Weeks):

In this stage, infants show innate behaviors (like crying and smiling) that help attract
caregiver attention and response but do not prefer a specific caregiver.

They accept care and comfort from any adult and do not yet understand that they are
separate individuals from their caregivers.

2. Attachment-in-the-Making (6 Weeks to 7 Months):

During this stage, infants develop a sense of trust in the people who respond to their
needs.

They start to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people, preferring familiar
people, but they still accept care from strangers. They don’t yet protest when separated
from a parent.

3. Clear-Cut Attachment (7 Months to 24 Months):

Specific attachment to the primary caregiver(s) develops at this stage.

Infants seek regular contact with their caregivers and may show distress upon
separation, demonstrating behaviors like “clinging” and “following.”

This stage also includes the development of “stranger anxiety” and “separation
anxiety.”

The onset of stranger anxiety around 7-9 months reflects cognitive advances enabling
infants to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar people.

While strangers provoke uncertainty, repeated comforting interactions with a sensitive

caregiver provide the infant with the confidence to overcome this wariness.

By age 2, stranger anxiety typically resolves as the child becomes more socially adept.

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 4. Formation of a Reciprocal Relationship (24 Months and Onwards):

As language develops, toddlers understand their parents’ actions and motivations and
can negotiate with them.

They can now tolerate separations with less distress and use mental representations of
their caregivers for comfort.

Critical Evaluation

Bowlby proposed that babies are born with a limited ability to discriminate between
caregivers and will accept care from whoever provides it. To get care, babies rely
largely on crying at first.
We now know babies have some innate abilities to recognize their mothers, like
discerning her voice and smell soon after birth (Kisilevsky et al., 2003; Porter &
Winberg, 1999).
While these suggest basic recognition and orienting towards the mother, many
caregivers can still soothe a distressed newborn. The mother’s presence is not
required.
A newborn’s interactions with caregivers represent initial attempts at self-regulation –
expressing a need through crying and then being soothed.
Over the first months, babies develop a larger repertoire of attachment behaviors
beyond just crying.

Schaffer & Emerson’s Stages of Attachment

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies at monthly intervals for the
first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study).

The children were all studied in their own homes, and a regular pattern was identified in the
development of attachment. The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year,
their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed.

The mother kept a diary to examine the evidence for the development of an attachment. The
following measures were recorded:

• Stranger Anxiety – response to the arrival of a stranger.

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• Separation Anxiety – distress level when separated from a carer, degree of comfort
needed on return.

• Social Referencing – the degree to which a child looks at a carer to check how they
should respond to something new (secure base).

They discovered that baby’s attachments develop in the following sequence:

1. Asocial (0 – 6 weeks):

Very young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli, both social and non-social,
produce a favorable reaction, such as a smile.

During the asocial stage, the infant’s behavior does not appear specifically directed
towards primary caregivers over others. The infant may respond to humans and
objects similarly, showing generalized responses like crying, smiling, and looking at
faces or objects.

Although termed “asocial,” it doesn’t imply that the baby has no interest in social
interaction. Still, rather than undifferentiated interactions, they do not yet show a strong
preference for any one person or display an understanding of social behavior. This is
the period before specific, strong social bonds are formed.

Remember that despite its name, the asocial stage is important for social development.
The interactions during this stage lay the groundwork for later stages of attachment.

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2. Indiscriminate Attachments (6 weeks to 7 months):

During this stage, infants start to display more social behavior and begin to show a
preference for social stimuli, preferring human interaction over inanimate objects. They
smile, babble, and reach out more to people rather than objects.

Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company; most babies respond equally to any
caregiver. They get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them.

The infants are sociable and “indiscriminate” in their attachment because they do not
show a strong preference for a single caregiver over others. They recognize and
respond to more people, but they do not yet differentiate significantly between familiar
and unfamiliar adults.

From 3 months, infants smile more at familiar faces and can be easily comfortable by a
regular caregiver.

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 3. Specific Attachment (7 – 9 months):

Special preference for a single attachment figure. The baby looks to particular people
for security, comfort, and protection. It shows fear of strangers (stranger fear) and
unhappiness when separated from a special person (separation anxiety).

Some babies show stranger fear and separation anxiety much more frequently and
intensely than others, but they are evidence that the baby has formed an attachment.
This has usually developed by one year of age.

The study’s results indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who
responded accurately to the baby’s signals, not the person they spent more time with.
Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.

Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and,
interacted with their child. Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to
interact.

The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child
but who plays and communicates with him or her. Therefore, sensitive responsiveness
to the baby’s signals appeared to be the key to the attachment.

4. Multiple Attachment (10 months and onwards):

The baby becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments. By 18

months, the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments.

The study’s results indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who
responded accurately to the baby’s signals, not the person they spent more time with.
Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.

Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and
interacted with their children. Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed
to interact.

Critical Evaluation

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The Schaffer and Emerson study has low population validity. The infants in the study all
came from Glasgow and were mostly from working-class families. In addition, the small
sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the
study.

However, the accuracy of data collection by parents who were keeping daily diaries while
clearly being very busy could be questioned. A diary like this is also very unreliable, with
demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues. Mothers are not likely to
report negative experiences in their daily write up.

The study lacks historical validity. It was conducted in the 1960s when gender roles were
different – Now, more men stay at home to look after their children, and more women go out
to work, so the sample is biased.

References
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.

Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss. Volume II. Separation, anxiety and anger.
In Attachment and loss. volume II. Separation, anxiety and anger (pp. 429-p).

Bowlby, J. (1980). Loss: Sadness & depression. Attachment and loss (vol. 3); (International
psycho-analytical library no.109). London: Hogarth Press.

Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M., Lee, K., Xie, X., Huang, H., Ye, H. H., … & Wang, Z. (2003).
Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition. Psychological science, 14(3), 220-224.

Porter, R., & Winberg, J. (1999). Unique salience of maternal breast odors for newborn
infants. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 23(3), 439-449.

Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). The development of social attachments in

infancy. Monographs of the society for research in child development, 1-77.

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