A- Ainsworth Strange Situation- Types of Attachment Flashcards
What was the strange situation?
- This was the methodology used by Ainsworth et al. (1970) to investigate differences in attachments between infants and their caregivers.
- It was a controlled observation which took place in a room that had been furnished with some toys.
What occurred during the strange situation?
The investigators observed the infants in a series of three-minute episodes;
- Mother and baby
- Stranger enters
- Mother leaves
- Mother returns, etc.
What was recorded during the strange situation?
An infant’s:
- Proximity seeking
- Stranger anxiety
- Separation protest
- Reunion joy
What are the three types of attachments?
Type A: Insecure-Avoidant
Type B: Secure Attachment
Type C: Insecure-resistant
What percentage of the babies had attachments classified as insecure-avoidant?
20% of babies had attachments that were classified as insecure-avoidant.
What characteristics do babies with an insecure-avoidant attachment show?
- Babies with this attachment style will largely ignore their caregiver and play independentlywhile they explore the room.
- They show no signs of distress when the caregiver is absent (no separation protest) and continue to ignore them when they return (no reunion joy).
- The baby is distressed when left completely alone but is comfortedby the stranger as easily as their caregiver (no stranger anxiety).
- The caregiver and the stranger are treated in much the same way.
What percentage of babies were described as securely attached?
70% of babies were described as securely attached.
What characteristics do babies with a secure attachment show?
- Securely attached babies play happily while the caregiver is present and use them as a safe base while they explore the room and play with the toys.
- The baby is clearly distressed when the caregiver leaves (separation protest), even if they are not left completely alone, and seeks immediate contact with their caregiver when they return (reunion joy).
- Their caregiver easily comforts them.
- The baby is wary of the stranger (stranger anxiety) but accepts some comfort from them when the caregiver is absent
What percentage of babies had an insecure-resistant attachment?
10% of babies were put in the insecure-resistant category.
What characteristics do babies with an insecure-resistant attachment show?
- Babies who have an insecure-resistant attachment to their caregivers are fussy and cry more than other babies.
- They will not explore the room or play with the toys very much, instead they are clingy.
- The baby is distressed when the caregiver leaves (extreme separation protest), however they resist comfort from the caregiver on reunion(no reunion joy).
- They strongly resist the stranger’s attempts to make contact (extreme stranger anxiety)
Evaluate the strange situation. (ADVANTAGES)
1) High levels of control and standardised procedure makes it easy to replicate. Bick et al. (2012) looked at inter rater reliability in a team of trained Strange Situation observers and found agreement on attachment type for 94% of tested babies.
2) Attachment types defined by the Strange Situation is strongly predictive of later development, babies assessed as secure typically went on to having better outcomes, ranging from success at school to romantic relationships and friendships at adulthood. Whereas insecure-resistant attachment was associated with negative outcomes such as bullying in later childhood (Kokkinos 2007) and adult mental health problems ( Ward et al, 2006). This provides evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain subsequent consequences.
Evaluate the Strange Situation (DISADVANTAGES)
1) LACKS POPULATION VALIDITY - original study only uses American infants , lacks generisabilty to wider population, however there have been many replications of this study to asses attachment types in other cultures ( Takahashi (1990) replicated the Strange Situation with 60 middle class Japanese infants & mothers using the same standardised procedure and behavioural categories)
2) This methodology was developed in the United States and so may be culturally biased.
- Attachment behaviour that is seen as healthy in the United States may not be seen as such in all cultures.
- In Germany at this time very few mothers worked (less than 1 in 5) but children were encouraged to be independent and self-reliant.
- German parents view some of the behaviour exhibited by securely attached infants, such as crying when their mothers leave the room, as being spoilt and so do not reward this behaviour.
- This is why these children may have shown less anxiety when separated from their mothers and been classed as avoidant.
2) The strange situation is gender biased as it has only ever been carried out using mothers as the caregiver.
- Children might be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers.
- They strange situation is therefore not measuring a child’s overall attachment style but their attachment to one individual.
- Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.
3) The Strange Situation being artificial is that it may not reflect the infant’s real world behaviour (LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY). Studies have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in laboratory settings than they are in their home environment.
4) A weakness of strange situation is that later research demonstrated that Ainsworth has not accounted for a key fourth type of attachment
Main and Solomon analysed over 200 strange situation tapes and proposed a type D attachment: insecure-disorganised. This was characterised by a lack of consistent social behaviour and attachment. These infants lacked a coherent strategy of dealing with stress of separation – they showed very strong attachment which was suddenly followed by avoidance or looking scared of the caregiver
Since Ainsworth’s research did not account for this attachment her research on attachments could be seen as lacking sufficient detail
This reduces the validity of the findings
