Ainsworth's Strange Situation Flashcards
What was the aim of the The Strange situation
A procedure to assess how securely attached a child was to. its care giver
What were the conditions of the strange situation
A controlled observation conducted in a 2 way mirror
Give the 7 stages
1) The caregiver enters a room and the Childs on the floor and the parent. on the chair, the caregiver doesn’t interact with the child unless the infant seeks attention
2) A stranger enters the room, talks to the caregiver and approaches the child with a toy
3) The caregiver leaves, if the infant plays the stranger observes, if the child. doesn’t the stranger attempts. interest them. with a toy if they show distress the stranger attempts to comfort. them
4) The caregiver returns while the strange then. leaves
5) The infant begins to play, the caregiver may leave and leaves the child alone
6) The stranger enters the room. again and repeats behaviour mentioned in step 3
7) The strange leaves and the caregiver returns.
What is the point of the strange situation?
It Places the child in a mildly stressful situation in order to observe 4 types of behaviour separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, willingness to. explore and reunion behaviour with caregiver
What 3 types of attachments did she find?
Secure, Insecure resistant and Insecure avoidant
Explain secure
The most popular type, was found when the infant showed some separation anxiety when the parent or caregiver left but easily soothed when when they return. A securely attached infant is able to play independently but use there caregiver as a safe base - Accounts for 65% of children
Explain insecure resistant
The infant becomes distressed and tries to follow the caregiver when they leave but when they return the infant switches from seeking and rejecting social interaction with intimacy of them. They’re also inclined to explore new environments. This accounts for 3% of children (Least common)
Explain Insecure Avoidant
The infant has no separation anxiety when their carer leaves and has no stranger anxiety when a stranger enters. They have anger towards their carer and avoid social interaction with them. They’re able to explore and play independently easily, no matter who is present. Accounting for 20% of children
Give a - (1AF)
Only measures the relationship with 1 attachment figure, they only use mothers. This means that the wrong attachment can. be identified they. may be strongly attached to another family member. The study lacks internal validity as it doesn’t measure a child’s attachment type with their caregiver
Give a - (EI)
There are ethical issues. 20% of children cried at 1 point. Highlighting how ethically inappropriate it is. It is unethical as it could cause long term damage. Despite ethical issues it is important to conduct a CBA to see if the benefits outweigh the ethical costs
Give a - (LPV)
Lacks population validity. It was based on western culture, therefore suffers culture bias, we’re less able to generalise the findings as different cultures bring up children differently. Suggesting they are culture bound and lack ecological. validity, because. the results are. only generalised to the settings. they were found
Give a - (LEV)
Lacks ecological validity. It was conducted in a lab setting so variables were highly controlled, despite the strict control confounding and extraneous variables increasing the confidence that is placed in cause and effect. Its not representative of real. life and lacks mundane realism meaning it’s easily replicable so does increase reliability in findings
