Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Question 1

What is the Strange Situation?

Answer 1

A systematic way to test the nature of attachment between infant and caregiver

Question 2

What are the 7 stages of the Strange Situation?

Answer 2

1. Infant and caregiver play
2. Stranger enters
3. Caregiver leaves
4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves
5. Caregiver leaves
6. Stranger returns
7. Caregiver returns

Question 3

Which 4 types of behaviours was the Strange Situation testing for?

Answer 3

1. Separation anxiety
2. Stranger anxiety
3. Secure-base behaviour
4. Reunion behaviour

Question 4

In the first stage when caregiver and infant are playing together which behaviour is this testing for?

Answer 4

Secure-base behaviour

Question 5

What are the three types of attachment Ainsworth found?

Answer 5

Secure, insecure-resistant, insecure-avoidant

Question 6

What is a secure attachment?

Answer 6

X Shows secure-base behaviour X Moderate levels of separation and stranger anxiety X Easily comforted when mother returns

Question 7

What is an insecure-avoidant attachment?

Answer 7

X Does not use mother as a secure base and comfortable to explore X Low levels of separation and stranger anxiety X Shows little interest when mother returns

Question 8

What is an insecure-resistant attachment?

Answer 8

X Not confident to explore and clings to mother X Extreme levels of separation and stranger anxiety X Reunion behaviour- seeks mother and rejects her e.g. may push her away.

Question 9

Describe the findings of the Strange Situation

Answer 9

UK:
Secure= 60-75%
Insecure-avoidant= 20-25%
Insecure-resistant= 3%

Question 10

What ar ethe two strengths of the strange situation?

Answer 10

Good reliability- The Strange Situation shows very good inter- observer reliability. It has been found that different observers watching the same children in the Strange Situation generally agree on what attachment type to classify them with. For example, Bick et al. (2012) looked at inter-rater reliability in a team of trained Strange Situation observers and found agreement on attachment type for 94% of tested babies. This points to a strength of the Strange Situation as we can be confident that the same attachment type will be found regardless of who observes.

Real-world Application- Intervention strategies can be developed to tackle situations where disordered patterns of attachment develop between infant and caregiver. Cooper et al. (2005)= The Circle of Security Project: teaches caregivers to better understand their infants’ signals of distress and to increase their understanding of what it feels like to experience anxiety. The project showed a decrease in the number of caregivers classified as disordered (from 60% to 15%) and an increase in infants classed as securely attached (from 32% to 40%).

Question 11

What are the three limitations of the strange situation?

Answer 11

May be more than 3 types of attachment- There is at least one other type of attachment that has been identified, as a small number of children do not fall neatly into one of the 3 attachment types. These children could be classified as disorganised attachment, which is a mixture of insecure avoidant and resistant attachment. Van IJzendoorn et al. (1999) further supported this with a meta-analysis of nearly 80 studies in the US. They found that 15% of children fell into this insecure-disorganised category. Therefore, Ainsworth’s conclusions may have been oversimplified and do not account for all attachment behaviours.

Culture-bound- Whilst the SS has been used to classify attachment around the world, the test may not be appropriate for other cultures. It is a test of attachment designed by a Western woman, based on western ideals of attachment that sees secure attachment as most desirable- in other cultures this may not be the case e.g. Germany has been found to have higher levels of insecure avoidant children as they are more likely to raise their children to be independent.

Ethical Issues- Child is put under deliberate stress in the form of separation and stranger anxiety (protection from psychological harm), particularly if they are insecure resistant. COUNTER-ARGUMENT: Ainsworth argued that the distress children felt was justified as it is normal for children to face brief separation from their mother. However, when replicated in some cultures such as Japan the distress was too much for children and the procedure had to be amended. Therefore, some have challenged the appropriateness of this method.