Ainsworth Flashcards
Ainsworth’s aim?
To see types of attachment and causes
Ainsworth’s sample?
USA mothers and babies
Ainsworth’s method?
8 stages looking at secure base, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, and reunion behaviour
What were the 8 stages of Ainsworth?
- Mother and child together (secure base is measured)
- Stranger talks to mother and attempts to engage with child
- Mother leaves room, stranger attempts to engage with child (stranger anxiety is measured)
- If distress is high, mother returns quickly and stranger leaves the room
- Mother leaves child alone (separation anxiety is measured)
- Stranger attempts to play with child
- Mother returns (reunion behaviour is measured)
What percentage were secure in Ainsworth?
70%
What percentage were avoidant in Ainsworth?
20%
What percentage were resistant in Ainsworth’s study?
10%
What is secure attachment in Ainsworth?
Use secure base to explore, stranger and separation anxiety, easily comforted
What is avoidant attachment in Ainsworth?
Don’t use secure base to explore, no anxiety
What is resistant attachment in Ainsworth?
Don’t explore, separation and stranger anxiety, hard to comfort (lash out)
How is Ainsworth’s study standardised?
Using same steps with mother and child so results about reactions to strangers can be retested to see if its a reliable way of measuring attachment types
How does Ainsworth’s study lack mundane realism?
Situation is staged so natural behaviour of children is not measured in a realistic way, limiting application of research to real life situations
How is Ainsworth’s study controlled?
Behaviour (e.g. separation anxiety) is measured in a lab setting so extraneous variables (e.g. stranger behaviour) that may alter the behaviour of child are controlled/eliminated so findings about attachment types are more valid
How is there a lack of demand characteristics in Ainsworth?
Observed covertly (and young
children are less likely to understand the study and so change their behaviour)
Why is a weakness that Ainsworth’s sample is ethnocentric?
Judges and categorises behaviour according to behavioural categories against middle-class American standards, reduces generalisability
What do Main & Solomon suggest the 4th possible attachment type is and how does this conflict Ainsworth?
Disorganised = infant is
fearful of the attachment figure, but still wants closeness)
Not accounted for in the SS so both the study and the theory may be considered reductionist
What is Kagan’s temparament hypothesis and how does this conflict Ainsworth?
Children are born with different innate temperaments which will have different attachment types
Does not account for the individual differences of children, particularly the strange situation
may be a measure of temperament rather than attachment
Why are there ethical issues with Ainsworth e.g. protection from harm?
Procedure may be distressing for children as they are separated from their
caregiver/exposed to a stranger
OTOH: the parent could withdraw if this was an issue & returned when
distressed
