Ainsworth's "Strange Situation"

Question 1

What/who did Ainsworth study initially and what did this allow her to develop?

Answer 1

26 mothers from the Ganda tribe of Uganda; three types of attachment

Question 2

Define: (Type A) Insecure-avoidant

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Define: (Type B) Secure

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Define: (Type C) Insecure-resistant

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What did Ainsworth identify as the two important features of attachment, both of which have an adaptive survival value?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

How many episodes were there in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation and how long did they last?

Answer 6

Eight; three minutes

Question 7

What type of behaviour sampling was used?

Answer 7

Time sampling

Question 8

What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type A attachment?

Answer 8

15%

Question 9

What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type B attachment?

Answer 9

70%

Question 10

What percentage of Ainsworth’s participants were type C attachment?

Answer 10

15%

Question 11

What, according to Ainsworth, is the major factor determining the quality of attachments?

Answer 11

Sensitive responsiveness

Question 12

What has the Strange Situation method become?

Answer 12

The paradigm for assessing attachments

Question 13

What do different attachment patterns occurring cross-culturally suggest about the cause of attachments?

Answer 13

Attachment types are not biological, but learned through exposure to different child-rearing styles

Question 14

Why was a meta-analysis of the Strange Situation conducted?

Answer 14

The studies had small samples, and hadn’t considered inter-cultural differences against intra-cultural differences

Question 15

How many studies did Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg use?

Answer 15

32 studies from 8 countries

Question 16

What were the overall attachment percentages?

Answer 16

Type A: 21%
Type B: 67%
Type C: 12%

Question 17

Which country had the highest percentage of Type A attachments?

Answer 17

Germany

Question 18

Which country had the highest percentage of Type B attachments?

Answer 18

Britain and Sweden

Question 19

Which country had the highest percentage of Type C attachments?

Answer 19

Israel

Question 20

Were inter-cultural or intra-cultural differences bigger?

Answer 20

Intra-cultural differences

Question 21

What is the problem with cross-cultural studies?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Who did McMahon study and what did she find?

Answer 22

The Dogon people of Mali; they had little Type A or C attachments because mothers were closely involved with their children

Question 23

Where does Yeo believe the Strange Situation is being used with an imposed etic?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What types of validity does the Strange Situation lack?

Answer 24

Predictive and ecological

Question 25

What did Brofenbrenner find?

Answer 25

Attachment behaviours were stronger in the lab because of the unknown environment

Question 26

What positive evaluation does attachment research have?

Answer 26

It is reliable - Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found similar results to Ainsworth (70%, 15% and 15%)