Ainsworth's Strange Situation

Question 1

Who?

Answer 1

Mary Ainsworth and Silvia Bell (1970) - developed the ‘Strange Situation’ to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of baby attachment to caregiver

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

-Strange Situation is a controlled observation procedure designed to measure the security of the attachment a baby has with a caregiver.
-Takes places in a room with controlled conditions (lab) with a two-way mirror and/or cameras through which psychologists can observe baby behaviours

Seven episodes, each of which lasts three minutes
1. Baby is encourage to explore - testing exploration and secure base
2. Stranger comes in, talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby - tests stranger anxiety
3. Caregiver leaves baby and stranger together - Separation and stranger anxiety
4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves - tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base
5. Caregiver leaves the baby alone - tests separation anxiety
6. Stranger returns - tests stranger anxiety
7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with baby - tests reunion behaviour

Question 3

Behaviours used to judge attachment

Answer 3

1. Proximity-seeking - baby with a good quality attachment will stay close to a caregiver
2. Exploration and secure-base behaviour - good attachment enables a baby to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base (point of contact that will make them feel safe)
3. Stranger anxiety - one of the signs of become attached is to display anxiety when a stranger approaches
4. Separation anxiety - one of the signs of become attached is to protest at separation from the caregiver

5.Response to reunion - babies who are securely attachment greet the caregiver’s return with pleasure and seek comfort

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

Found patterns in the way that babies behaved

Identified three main types of attachment:
○ Secure attachment (Type B) - explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver (proximity-seeking and secure-base behaviour)
Moderate separation distress, and moderate stranger anxiety. Accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage. About 60-75% of British babies are classified as secure

○ Insecure-avoidant attachment (Type A) - explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour. Show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety. No effort when the caregiver returns and may even avoid such contact. About 20-25% of British babies are classified as insecure-avoidant 

Insecure-resistant attachment (Type C) - babies seek greater proximity than others and so explore less. Show high levels of stranger and separation distress but they resists comfort when reunited with caregiver. Around 3% of British babies are insecure-resistant

Question 5

Strength - good predictive validity

Answer 5

Outcomes predict a number of aspects of baby’s later development
Research has been done to show that type b children tend to have better outcomes than others:
-Childhood - have better achievement in school and less involvement in bully (McCormick et al 2016, Kokkinos 2007)
-Tend to have better mental health (Ward et al 2006)

Those labelled as insecure-resistant or to A, B or C tend to have worse outcomes

Suggests that the Strange Situation is real and meaningful in studying development

Question 6

Counterpoint to good predictive validity

Answer 6

Not all psychologists believe that the Strange Situation measures attachment
- Kagan (1982) suggests that genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour in SS and later development
- Means that the Strange Situation may not actually measure attachment

Question 7

Strength - good reliability

Answer 7

• Good inter-rate reliability (agreement between different observers)
• Bick et al (2012) tested inter-rate reliability for the SS for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment in 94% of cases
• High level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours (such as stranger anxiety) involve large movements and are easy to observe
  Means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the SS does not depend of subjective judgments

Question 8

Limitation - culture-bound

Answer 8

• It may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts
• SS was developed in Britain and the US - may be culture bound
• One reason is that babies have different experiences in different culture and those experiences may affect their responses to the SS
• Japanese study - Keiko Takahashi (1986) - suggests that this anxiety response was not due to the high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is rare

Means it is difficult to know what the SS is measuring when used oustide Europe and US

Question 9

Other attachment types

Answer 9

• Mary Main and Judith Solomon (1986) identified a fourth category of attachment - a disorganised or type D attachment, a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours

However, type D babies are unusual and have generally experienced some form of severe neglect or abuse. Most will go on to develop psychological disorders by adulthood