Ainsworth And Bell (1970) - Strange Situation Procedure (SSP)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

wanted to see how a child behaved towards stranger and their caregivers under controlled conditions of stress

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

• 100 middle class American mothers and children aged 9-18months
• controlled observation techniques
• 8 episodes lasting 3 mins
• mother responds to baby then stranger enters the room and speaks to other and approaches the baby and mother then leaves
• stranger let’s baby play, if baby distressed then procedure ends
• mother enters the room stranger leaves, child settles, mother leaves and procedure ends if distressed

Question 3

What was recorded?

Answer 3

• the infants unease when mother left
• the infants willingness to explore
• the way the infant greeted their mother on return
• infants response to stranger
• proximity
• contact
• avoidance
• resistance

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

• type B = secure attachment ( joy at reunion, distress at separation from mother) = 60-65%
• type A= insecure anxious/ avoidant attachment (no interest when separated from mother and don’t notice return) = 20%
• type C = insecure resistant attachment (intense distress when separated and reject contact from mother on return) = 12%

Question 5

Conclusions

Answer 5

The type of attachment formed by the child depends upon on the responsiveness and sensitivity of caregiver

Question 6

Evaluation- strengths

Answer 6

• panel of observers = inter rater reliability
• perfect agreeemnt between researchers = reliability
• standardised procedure (8 episodes 3 mins) = replicable so reliable
• large sample (100) = generalisable

Question 7

AO3 - Main and Weston (1981)

Answer 7

Relationship between child and primary caregiver is key factor in determining attachment type = validity

Question 8

AO3 - Cooper (2005)

Answer 8

• circle of security project taught caregivers to understand babies signals of distress better
• increase in securely attached from 32% to 42% = application

Question 9

Evaluation - weaknesses

Answer 9

• unnatural setting so mother may show social desirability (may be neglected at home) so lacks ecological validity
• American mothers so estrocentric and culture bias so not representative of whole American population so not generalisable
• unethical as caused some children distress
• doesn’t measure attachments in other cultures
• all middle class so not representative of all classes

Question 10

AO3 - Main and Solomon (1990)

Answer 10

• analysed 200 SSP tales and proposed a 4th type called insecure disorganised attachment (type D- lack of social behaviour) and a 5th type disinhibited attachment (severe privation)
• initial research oversimplifies a complex situation
• lacks validity

Question 11

AO3 - Main and Weston (1981) weakness

Answer 11

• SSP aims to measure the attachment type of a child but actually measures the quality of one particular relationship
• low internal validity