Ainsworth (1969): Strange Situation

Question 1

Ainsworth (1969): Strange Situation

Answer 1

Controlled observation designed to test attachment security. Attachment behaviour includes:
* Proximity seeking
* Exploration/secure base
* Stranger anxiety
* Separation anxiety
* Reunion behaviour

Question 2

Procedure:

Answer 2

• Child and caregiver enter a room with lots of toys.
• Caregiver puts child on the floor to explore.
• After 3 mins, adult stranger comes in, sits down and briefly chats with the caregiver, then begins to play with the child.
• Caregiver then leaves and stranger interacts with the baby by playing with toys, picking baby up.
• Caregiver re-enters the room and baby stops crying, stranger leaves the room.
• Caregiver leaves again a few minutes later, baby immediately starts crying again. This time the baby is alone.
• The stranger comes back in and picks the baby up, comforting it again. Caregiver re-enters the room and baby are comforted again.
• Ainsworth found that babies who cried less at home often cried more in moments of separation anxiety due to having more secure attachments.
• Babies’ behaviour at reunion more important than at separation; babies well attached to mothers looked to be picked up when mother returned. 66% had secure attachments.
• Babies who weren’t attached to securely were not as upset at separation and slow to react in reunion: avoidant category.
• Ambivalent/Resistant category where very upset after separation and extremely difficult to comfort at reunion. Made up 13% of original sample.
• Disorganized category: babies were overwhelmed, some panicked, others retreated in a dazed manner.
• Most babies in these categories have been in families involved in trauma, mistreatment etc.

Question 3

what did Ainsworth find about babies who cried less at home

Answer 3

• Ainsworth found that babies who cried less at home often cried more in moments of separation anxiety due to having more secure attachments.

Question 4

• Disorganized category

Answer 4

babies were overwhelmed, some panicked, others retreated in a dazed manner.
* Most babies in these categories have been in families involved in trauma, mistreatment etc.

Question 5

The caregiver encourages the baby to explore.

Answer 5

Exploration/secure base

Question 6

A stranger enters, talks to the caregiver, and approaches the baby.

Answer 6

Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety.

Question 7

The caregiver leaves the baby and stranger together.

Answer 7

Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety.

Question 8

The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves.

Answer 8

Reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base.

Question 9

The caregiver leaves so the baby is alone.

Answer 9

Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety.

Question 10

The stranger returns.

Answer 10

Stranger anxiety.

Question 11

The caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby.

Answer 11

Reunion behaviour.

Question 12

Insecure – Avoidant Attachment (Type A)

Answer 12

• Explore freely.
• No separation distress.
• Little stranger anxiety.
• No effort to interact with caregiver at reunion.
• No proximity seeking or secure base behaviour.
• 20-25% of toddlers are insecure avoidant

Question 13

Secure Attachment (Type B)

Answer 13

• Proximity seeking and secure base.
• Moderation separation distress.
• Moderate stranger anxiety.
• Accept comfort from caregiver at reunion.
• These children explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver (proximity seeking & secure base behaviour).
• 60-75% of British toddlers are classified as secure.

Question 14

Insecure-Resistant Attachment (Type C)

Answer 14

• Proximity seeking.
• Strong separation distress.
• Strong stranger anxiety.
• Resist comfort from caregiver at reunion.
• Little exploration.
• 3% of British toddlers are insecure resistant.

Question 15

Evaluation: Predictive Validity

Answer 15

hshs s

Question 16

Evidence for Predictive Validity

Answer 16

• Kokkinos (2007): insecure resistant attachment is associated with worst outcomes (e.g., bullying in later childhood).
• Ward et al. (2006): insecure-resistant attachment is associated with adult mental health problems.

Question 17

Evidence against Predictive Validity

Answer 17

• However, Kagan (1982) points out that the Strange Situation observation doesn’t necessarily show you attachment at all. It might instead be showing you genetically generated anxiety levels that have little or nothing to do with upbringing at all.

Question 18

Evaluation: Inter-rater reliability

Answer 18

• Inter-rater reliability: different observers watching the same children generally agree on what attachment type to classify them: the behaviour categories are easy to observe.
• Strong inter-rater/inter-observer reliability: Bick et al. (2012) found 94% agreement on attachment type for trained observers.

Question 19

Evaluation: Culturally Relative

Answer 19

1. Cultural differences in childhood experiences mean children respond differently.
2. Caregivers from different cultures behave differently in Strange Situation experiment.

Takahashi (1990): Strange Situation does not work in Japan. Takahashi (1990) test does not work in Japan because mothers are so rarely separated from children, so they all show very high levels of anxiety. In the reunion stage, the mothers ran to the baby so fast that observers couldn’t even categorise the behaviour.