Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation

Question 1

what were the aims of the study

Answer 1

To assess how infants aged 9-18 months behave under conditions of mild stress and novelty, to test:
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Reunion behaviour
The secure base concept

To assess individual differences between mother-infant pairs in terms of the quality of their attachments.

Question 2

what does stranger anxiety mean

Answer 2

How distressed the infant became toward the stranger.

Question 3

what is separation anxiety

Answer 3

How distressed the infant became when the mother left the room.
The most common way for children to act out their fears of separation is through tantrums and clinging.

Question 4

what is the secure base concept

Answer 4

How willingly the infant explored the room using the mother as a safe base.
Good attachment enables a baby to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base, i.e. a point of contact that will make them feel safe.

Question 5

what is reunion behaviour

Answer 5

How the mother was greeted by the infant on her return to the room.

Question 6

what is proximity seeking

Answer 6

The way that infants try to maintain physical contact or be close to their attachment figure.

Question 7

what was the procedure

Answer 7

106 American infants (9-18 months) were observed.

The research room was a novel environment - a 9x9 foot space, often marked off into 16 squares to help record infant’s movements.

The Strange Situation comprised 8 episodes, each designed to highlight certain behaviours. Each episode lasted for three minutes.

Question 8

The caregiver and stranger alternately stayed with the infant or left, which enabled observation of the infant’s response to:

Answer 8

Response to a stranger (Stranger Anxiety)
Separation from the caregiver (Separation Anxiety)
The novel environment, which aims to encourage exploration (the Secure Base concept)
Reunion with the caregiver (Reunion Behaviour)

Question 9

How long did each episode last

Answer 9

Each episode lasted for 3 minutes

Question 10

Observers recorded behaviour using the following behavioural categories:

Answer 10

Proximity and contact-seeking behaviours
Contact-maintaining behaviours
Proximity and interaction-avoiding behaviours
Contact and interaction-resisting behaviours
Search behaviours
Behaviour was also scored on an intensity scale of 1-7.

Question 11

how many secs was the infants recorded at/ what is this an example of

Answer 11

Observers recorded what the infant was doing every 15 seconds.
This is an example of time sampling: an observer records behaviour at prescribed intervals.

Question 12

what were the conclusions of the study

Answer 12

There are significant individual differences between infants, which can be represented using three broad categories/types.

Sensitive responsiveness is the major factor determining the quality of attachments, as sensitive mothers correctly interpret infants’ signals and respond appropriately to their needs.

Sensitive mothers tend to have securely-attached infants, whereas insensitive mothers tend to have insecurely-attached infants.

Question 13

High inter-rater/observer reliability (consistency between observers)

Answer 13

Bick et al. (2012) found a strong level of agreement (0.94) between trained observers when assessing attachment types using the Strange Situation.

Question 14

There is research evidence to support the Strange Situation Classification (SSC).

Answer 14

• Wartner et al. (1994) found that 78% of children were classified in the same way at ages 1 and 6 years.
• The fact that SSC is usually the same at different ages suggests that it is a reliable measure over time.

Question 15

Ethical issues

Answer 15

Deliberate distress caused to infants in order to see their reactions – this could have caused psychological harm.
However, some argue that the stress caused was no greater than that of everyday experiences e.g. being left with an unfamiliar babysitter.

Question 16

It could be argued that infants do not fit neatly into any one of the three attachment categories identified by Ainsworth. They might display behaviour that could relate to more than one attachment type

Answer 16

Main and Solomon (1986) identified a further group of children:
Insecure disorganised (Type D) - These children show inconsistent behaviour, confusion and indecision i.e. they show very strong attachment behaviour which is suddenly followed by avoidance or looking fearful towards their caregiver (a mixture of approach and avoidance behaviours).
This suggests that attachment types can be too restrictive

Question 17

Low internal validity

Answer 17

The Strange Situation has been criticised for only measuring the quality of one particular relationship, as opposed to the attachment type of a child.
This is because Ainsworth only studied interactions between mothers and their infants, ignoring the role of other caregivers e.g. the father.
Main and Weston (1981) found that children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with e.g. children might be insecurely attached to their mothers, but securely attached to their fathers.
This suggests that the classification of an attachment type may not be valid because what we are measuring is the quality of one relationship rather than a personal characteristic

Question 18

Issue of imposed etic

Answer 18

The procedure may be culture-bound in that it is specific to measuring attachment types in middle-class American infants, so may not be a valid measure in other cultures.
Therefore, the Strange Situation may not be suitable for use in all cultures as it might not have the same meaning - it contains elements unfamiliar to some cultures e.g. being left alone with strangers.

Question 19

Lacks ecological validity

Answer 19

The study is an artificial way of assessing attachment, as it is lab based with mother and stranger acting to a ‘script’.
Brofenbrenner (1979) argued that infants’ attachment behaviour is much stronger in a lab than when at home because of the unfamiliarity of the environment

Question 20

how did the mothers display demand characteristic

Answer 20

Mothers may have displayed ‘demand characteristics’.
They may have picked up on experimental cues and worked out that their behaviour was also being assessed. They may have been more attentive and responded more sensitively to their child’s needs than they would do normally.

Question 21

what does the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis assume

Answer 21

The Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis assumes that sensitive responsiveness is the major factor determining the attachment type of the infant, as sensitive mothers correctly interpret infants’ signals and respond appropriately to their needs.
- Ainsworth’s research supports this as she found that sensitive mothers tend to have securely-attached infants, whereas insensitive mothers tend to have insecurely-attached infants.

Question 22

However, attachment type may be explained by the Temperament Hypothesis as opposed to caregiver sensitivity.

Answer 22

It may be that certain innate personality/temperamental characteristics account for behaviour in the Strange Situation.
Perhaps some children are innately more vulnerable to stress, so each child will respond differently according to their innate temperament.
This does not support Ainsworth’s Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis, as it suggests that the infant’s behaviour is a greater indication of their temperament than how sensitively the caregiver responds to their needs

Question 23

Ainsworth’s key findings: willingness to explore environment

Answer 23

Secure Attachment
(Type B): High – confident in exploring unfamiliar environment
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): High
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): Low

Question 24

Ainsworth’s key findings: stranger anxiety

Answer 24

Secure Attachment
(Type B): High
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): Low
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): High

Question 25

Ainsworth’s key findings: separation anxiety/protest

Answer 25

Secure Attachment
(Type B): Distressed, but often easy to soothe
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): Indifferent
(not concerned with mother’s absence)
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): Intense Distress

Question 26

Ainsworth’s key findings: Behaviour at reunion with caregiver

Answer 26

Secure Attachment
(Type B): Enthusiastic
- greeted mother positively on her return
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): Avoids contact
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): Seeks and rejects

Question 27

Ainsworth’s key findings: Caregiver’s behaviour

Answer 27

Secure Attachment
(Type B): Responds sensitively to child’s needs
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): Ignores infant
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): Ambivalent
(sometimes responds to child’s needs - inconsistent

Question 28

Ainsworth’s key findings: % of infants classified

Answer 28

Secure Attachment
(Type B): 66%
Insecure-Avoidant
(Type A): 22%
Insecure-Resistant
(Type C): 12%