Ainsworth's Strange Situation

Question 1

What was the ‘Strange situation’?

Answer 1

• A controlled observation designed to test attachment security. Infants are assessed on their response to playing in an unfamiliar room, being left alone, left with a stranger, and being reunited with a caregiver. The infants were observed through a two-way mirror.

Question 2

What was the procedure of the ‘Strange situation’?

Answer 2

Ainsworth (1969) used 5 behaviours to asses attachment:
1. Proximity seeking
2. Exploration and secure-base behaviour
3. Stranger anxiety
4. Separation anxiety
5. Response to reunion

• The procedure has seven episodes, each of which lasts three minutes:

Pilot - Child and caregiver enter an unfamiliar playroom

Ep1 - Child encouraged to explore (test 2)
Ep2 - A stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child (test 3)
Ep3 - Caregiver leaves the child and stranger alone (tests 3 and 4)
Ep 4 - Caregiver returns and the stranger leaves (tests 2 and 5)
Ep 5 - Caregiver leaves the child alone (test 4)
Ep 6 - Stranger returns (test 3)
Ep 7 - Caregiver returns and is reunited with child (test 5)

Question 3

What were the findings of the ‘Strange situation’?

Answer 3

• Ainsworth et al (1978) - found that there were distinct patterns in the way that infants behaved. She identified 3 main types of attachment:

Secure attachment (type B) - Explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver. Moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety. Require and accept comfort in reunion stage. (60-75% of British children)

Insecure-avoidant attachment (type A): Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour. Little to no reaction when caregiver leaves and little contact when reunited. Shows little stranger anxiety. Do not require comfort at reunion stage. (20-25% of British toddlers)

Insecure-resistant attachment (type C): These children seek greater proximity than others and explore less. Shows huge stranger and separation distress but resists comfort when reunited with their carer. (3% of British toddlers)

Question 4

(AO3) What is a strength of this study?
(1)

Answer 4

Support for validity:

• The attachment types strongly predict later development.
• Babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas (success at school, romantic relationships, friendships). Insecure-resistant attachment is associated with the worst outcomes, including bullying in later childhood (Kokkinos (2007)). and adult mental health problems (Ward et al (2006)).
• This is evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain subsequent outcomes.

Question 5

(AO3) What is a strength of this study?
(2)

Answer 5

Good reliability:

• Good inter-rater reliability
• Then observers watching the same children in the Strange situation generally agree on what attachment type to classify them with.
• This may be because the study takes place under controlled conditions with behavioural categories that are easy to observe. 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 means that we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant identified in the strange situation does not depend on who is observing them.

Question 6

(AO3) What is a weakness of this study?

Answer 6

Culture-bound:

• The study may be culture-bound and does not have the same meaning in countries outside Western Europe and USA.
• There are two reasons are; cultural differences in childhood experiences are likely to mean that children respond differently to the Strange situation and caregivers from different cultures behave differently in the Strange situation.
• Takahashi (1990) - noted that the test does not work in Japan because Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their babies and there are high levels of separation anxiety. Also in the reunion stage, Japanese mothers rushed to the baby and scooped them up, meaning the child’s response was hard to observe.