Bowlby (1969) proposed that the development of attachment follows a certain sequence. From birth to eight weeks, the infant is friendly towards other people without discrimination of one special person. At around eight-ten weeks to six months, the orientation and signals are directed towards one or more special people (to a caregiver). At six months through to one-two years, the infant starts to follow their caregiver displaying separation anxiety. The infant also selects other people as attachment figures. However, the friendly responses to other people decrease and the infant treats strangers with increasing caution, (stranger anxiety).
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) responded to some of Bowlby’s earlier research by conducting a longitudinal study of sixty infants who came from working-class homes in Glasgow. The infants were observed over a period of one year in their home. This study has high ecological validity as the surroundings the mother and infant were in were true to life. Most infants showed separation protest at seven months, which indicated a specific attachment to one person. Within one month after the investigation, 29% formed multiple attachments and 78% formed multiple attachments within six months of the first specific attachment. In 39% of the cases, infants did not show their first specific attachment to the person who fed or bathed them. Responsiveness appears to be the key to attachment. Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and who offered the infant the most interaction. Infants who were weakly attached have mothers who failed to interact.
They then produced their own stage theory consisting of three distinctive stages. The Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)- emotional behaviour such as smiling and crying does not seem to be directed specifically at any given individual. The next stage was the indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-7months), where the infant seeks attention from numerous different people and is generally happy. The final stage is specific attachments (7 months-11months), where the infant forms a strong attachment to one individual, but good attachments to others often follow shortly thereafter.
A factor in the development of attachment is separation. There is evidence to suggest that frequently early separations may affect the attachment. Separations may break the emotional bond between a caregiver an infant and lead to insecure attachment and emotional problems. Another factor is the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis. Ainsworth et al (1974) proposed that good secure attachment is promoted by sensitive responsiveness from a caregiver. Attachment is not due to a caregiver just being together with the infant, but is related to the quality of interactions. This can be supported by Harlow’s (1959) research with monkeys. Harlow placed young monkeys with two mothers- one was a wire mother with a feeding bottle attached and the other was covered in cloth without a feeding bottle. The monkey showed a preference for the covered mother, especially when distressed. This shows attachment is not about food alone but mainly about comfort.
Similarly, Kennel and Klaus (1972), also found mothers who gave extra contact during the first three day of life, had more interaction with them, cuddling and soothing and having more eye contact with them. However, the criticism of this study was that parents of adopted children also feel close to their children as a biological parent does therefore questioning the experiment. Also if a baby has medical problems the mother and infant would not be able to bond straight away, making the mother think that she has missed out on a special event.
Similarly, imprinting by Konrad Lorenz shows that each group of goslings went straight to their caregiver and became distressed at separation. This shows us imprinting is a rapid special form of learning, which is shown by some young animals shortly after birth. It also shows that there is a critical period, which is a sensitive time when the gosling forms an attachment
In conclusion, these studies do show us that psychological research can inform us bout the development of attachment. The stage theories developed by John Bowlby and Schaffer and Emerson are quite similar showing infants go through these stages in their life. Most of the studies eventually suggest there is a critical period where mother and infant should spend time forming an attachment. It also tells us that interaction and responsiveness is the key to attachment to maintain proximity and exploratory behaviour, which is important to the later development of the infant.
