Ainsworth's "Strange Situation" Flashcards
What/who did Ainsworth study initially and what did this allow her to develop?
26 mothers from the Ganda tribe of Uganda; three types of attachment
Define: (Type A) Insecure-avoidant
Infants are unconcerned by separation, are willing to explore, have low stranger anxiety and avoid contact with their caregiver, who are indifferent to infants’ needs
Define: (Type B) Secure
Infants are easy to calm and are enthusiastic on the return of their caregiver, are willing to explore, have high stranger anxiety and their caregivers are sensitive to their needs
Define: (Type C) Insecure-resistant
Infants are upset by the absence of their caregiver and seek attention on their return, but then reject it, they are unwilling to explore, have a high degree of stranger anxiety, and their caregivers are ambivalent to infant needs
What did Ainsworth identify as the two important features of attachment, both of which have an adaptive survival value?
Infants seek proximity to their mothers, especially when feeling threatened; secure attachments allow infants to explore using their attachment figure as a safe base to explore from and return to
How many episodes were there in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation and how long did they last?
Eight; three minutes
What type of behaviour sampling was used?
Time sampling
What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type A attachment?
15%
What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type B attachment?
70%
What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type C attachment?
15%
What, according to Ainsworth, is the major factor determining the quality of attachments?
Sensitive responsiveness
What has the Strange Situation method become?
The paradigm for assessing attachments
What do different attachment patterns occurring cross-culturally suggest about the cause of attachments?
Attachment types are not biological, but learned through exposure to different child-rearing styles
Why was a meta-analysis of the Strange Situation conducted?
The studies had small samples, and hadn’t considered inter-cultural differences against intra-cultural differences
How many studies did Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg use?
32 studies from 8 countries
What were the overall attachment percentages?
Type A: 21%
Type B: 67%
Type C: 12%
Which country had the highest percentage of Type A attachments?
Germany
Which country had the highest percentage of Type B attachments?
Britain and Sweden
Which country had the highest percentage of Type C attachments?
Israel
Were inter-cultural or intra-cultural differences bigger?
Intra-cultural differences
What is the problem with cross-cultural studies?
They can suffer from an imposed etic (using techniques that are only relevant to on culture to study another and/or draw conclusions about it
Who did McMahon study and what did she find?
The Dogon people of Mali; they had little Type A or C attachments because mothers were closely involved with their children
Where does Yeo believe the Strange Situation is being used with an imposed etic?
When determining whether aboriginal children should be in care (nine times more likely to be), as children are cared for by many women communally and so have no primary caregiver to attach to and are rarely left alone with strangers
What types of validity does the Strange Situation lack?
Predictive and ecological
