4 Flashcards
Who proposed the Strange Situation?
Ainsworth (1970s)
Define the Strange Situation
Controlled observation designed to test the quality of an infant’s attachment to their caregiver
Who was Ainsworth a student of?
Bowlby
What 4 behaviours were assessed during the Strange Situation?
- Exploration + secure base behaviour (good attachment: infants explore, using caregiver as a secure base)
- Stranger anxiety (good attachment: anxiety towards strangers)
- Separation anxiety (good attachment: anxiety when separated from caregiver)
- Response to reunion (good attachment: caregiver’s return greeted with pleasure, infant seeks their comfort)
What type of observation is the Strange Situation?
- Controlled, overt observation (though 2 way mirror)
How many episodes in the Strange Situation
Beginning + 7 others
How long did each Strange Situation episode last?
Approx 3 mins
Outline the episodes in the Strange Situation + what behaviour was being observed during each episode
Beginning) Caregiver + infant enter unfamiliar playroom
1) Infant encouraged to explore (exploration/secure base)
2) Stranger enters, talks to caregiver, approaches infant (stranger anx)
3) Caregiver leaves. Infant + stranger left together (separation + stranger anx)
4) Caregiver returns. Stranger leaves (reunion + exploration/secure base)
5) Caregiver leaves infant alone (separation anx)
6) Stranger returns (stranger anx)
7) Caregiver returns (reunion)
What were the findings of the original Strange Situation?
3 main behaviour patterns emerged, so 3 main attachment types were concluded
What are the 3 main attachment types found in the Strange Situation?
Type A : Insecure-avoidant attachment
Type B : Secure attachment
Type C : Insecure-resistant attachment
What is Type A (insecure-avoidant)?
Low anxiety, weak attachment
- Infants explore, without returning to safe base
- Little separation or stranger anxiety
- Little pleasure or avoidance of reunion with caregiver
What is Type B (secure attachment)?
Good attachment, most desirable
- Infants explore, regularly returning to safe base
- Moderate separation and stranger anxiety
- Positive response to reunion, seeking comfort
What is Type C (insecure-resistant)?
High anxiety, very strong attachment
- Infants explore less, seeking proximity
- High separation and stranger anxiety
- Resist comfort during reunion
What percentage of British infants are insecure-avoidant (A)?
20-25 %
What percentage of British infants are secure (B)?
60-75 %
What percentage of British infants are insecure-resistant (c)?
Approx 3 %
Give 2 positive evaluation points for Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Later life research supports 3 attachment types
- Type B infants have better outcomes: childhood (better school achievement, less involvement in bullying - Kokkinos, 2007), adulthood (better mental health - Ward, 2006)
- Type C infants + those not fitting any category have worst outcomes
Methodology
- Clear, easily observable categories gave good inter-rater reliability
- Trained observers agreed in 94% cases (Bick et al, 2012)
Give 3 negative evaluation points for Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
May be a fourth attachment type
- Original categories don’t fit the entire population
- Main + Solomon (1986) identified Type D : disorganised attachment
- Type D involves mixture of avoidant + resistant behaviours + often get psychological disorders
- Type D often stems from neglect/abuse
Methodology
- May have measured genetic anxiety levels, not attachment security
- Kagan (1982) suggested different behaviours were result of diff genetically-influenced anxiety levels, not diff attachment types
- Means internal validity may be low (not assessing attachment)
Methodology
- Overt observation
- Mothers may adapt behaviour due to social desirability
- Results in change in infant behaviour
- External validity reduced (not representative of everyday)
What is a 4th negative evaluation point about Strange Situation that provoked a new study?
The findings may be culturally-bound, only representing individualist cultures
Who conducted a study to investigate cultural variations in attachment type?
Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg (1988)
What type of study did Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg do?
Meta analysis
Outline Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg’s procedure?
- Meta analysis
- Used 32 attachment studies that had used the Strange Situation
- Studies from 8 countries (assessing difference within + between countries)
What were Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg’s findings?
- In all countries, secure attachment (B) most common
(75% in England, 50% in China) - In individualist countries, insecure-avoidant (A) 2nd most common (matching Ainsworth’s original study) + insecure-resistant least common (less than 14%)
- In collectivist countries, insecure-resistant (C) 2nd most common (not matching Ainsworth’s original study) (over 25%) + insecure-avoidant (A) least common
- Variations were 1.5X greater within countries than between countries
(Secure in USA varied from 90%-46%)
Outline an example of the Strange Situation used in an individualist culture
- Italian Study
- Simonelli et al (2014)
- 76 , 1yr old babies
- Strange Situation Procedure
- Secure = 50%
- Insecure-avoidant = 36%
- Insecure-resistant = 14%
- An individualist culture, so fit Ainsworth’s original attachment findings
Outline an example of the Strange Situation used in a collectivist culture
- Korean Study
- Jin et al (2012)
- 87 babies
- Strange Situation Procedure
- Secure = Most
- Insecure-resistant = Rest
- Insecure-avoidant = Only 1
- A collectivist culture, with mothers traditionally being very involved and attentive in child-rearing, so didn’t fit Ainsworth’s original findings
What can be concluded from the analysis of the cross-cultural studies on attachment?
- Attachment is similar cross-culturally (secure always most common)
- Attachment has some cross-cultural variations due to…
1) Individualist/collectivist culture (avoidant 2nd most common in individualist countries, resistant 2nd most common in collectivist countries)
2) Child-rearing techniques in that culture (Korea + Japan, resistant 2nd most common due to highly involved parenting styles)
Give 2 positive evaluation points for the cultural variation attachment studies
Methodology
- Meta-analysis uses a large sample size, getting a better understanding of the country as a whole (e.g. 15 US studies)
- Results are more generalisable + representative of whole country
Methodology
- Often used indigenous researchers (e.g. Korea - by Jin)
- Indigenous researchers collect data with more internal validity (unaffected by confounding variables of stereotypes + miscommunication)
- BUT not all researchers were indigenous (e.g. Morelli + Tronick - foreign but did one of US studies)
Give 2 negative evaluation points for the cultural variation attachment studies
Methodology
- Hard to keep controlled, identical methodology worldwide
- Variations in environment, etc, may confound results by impacting infant behaviour
- May be hard to make valid comparisons between the studies
Issue - imposed etic
- Attachment may not be measurable in same way in all countries
- E.g. UK + USA - Lack of positive reunion = insecure attachment
Germany - Lack of positive reunion = independence (encouraged) but attachment may still be strong
- Internal validity may be low if the method doesn’t validly measure attachment everywhere
What is imposed etic?
Imposing an idea/technique that works in one culture, to another culture
