Ainsworth's strange situation

Question 1

What is type of attachment

Answer 1

Type of attachment is simply the type of attachment relationship there is between the infant and caregiver

Question 2

The strange situation aim

Answer 2

In 1969 Ainsworth came up with the strange situation to test the nature of attachment systematically, the aim was to see his infants (between 9-18 months old) behaved under conditions of mild stress and novelty.
The stress is made by the separation from the caregiver and the presence of a stranger, this tests both separation and stranger anxiety respectively. The novel situation encourages exploration and tests the secure base concept

Question 3

Ainsworth’s strange situation method

Answer 3

In a 9x9 foot square with a novel environment the infant is put through 8 episodes 3 minutes long to highlight certain behaviours, this was a form of controlled observation. The episodes where…

1-parent and infant play (assesses nothing)
2-parent sits, infant plays (parent as secure base)
3-stranger enters and talks to parent (stranger anxiety)
4-parent leaves, infant plays and stranger stays if needed (separation anxiety)
5- Stranger leaves and parent returns (reunion behaviour)
6-parent leaves, infant alone (separation anxiety)
7- stranger enters and offers comfort (stranger anxiety)
8-parent returns and offers comfort (reunion behaviour)

The data is collected by a group of observes who record what the infant is doing every 15 seconds. They note down which behaviour was shown and the intensity is ranked from 1-7. Tye behaviours are 
1-contact seeking 
2-contact maintaining 
3-interaction avoiding 
4-interaction resisting 
5- search behaviours

Question 4

Ainsworth’s strange situation results

Answer 4

Ainsworth’s combined the information of many different strange situation studies to get a total data set of 106 middle class mother and children pairs. 
They found exploring declined in all infants after the stranger entered the room while crying increased 
The proximity seeking and contact maintaining behaviours increased during separation and when the stranger arrived 
Contact resisting rarely happened the caregiver before the separation 

However he also found 3 types of children called types A,B and C.

Question 5

Secure (Type A)

Answer 5

These babies have cooperative interactions with their caregiver and less likely to cry inconsolably if they are separated from their carer, they seek contact with their carer when anxious and are easily soothed. They seek social interaction and intimacy and use their carer as a secure base to explore so they can function independently

Question 6

Insecure avoidant (type B)

Answer 6

These babies tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy, the children show little response to separation and don’t seek proximity with their caregiver after a reunion. If the infant is picked up they don’t cling or resist being put down, they are happy to explore without a caregiver. They also have high levels of anxiousness and avoidant behaviour.

They have a tendency to become very angry when their attachment needs aren’t me. This style is known as the anxious avoidant.

Question 7

Insecure resistant (type C)

Answer 7

These infants both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction, they respond to separation from their caregiver with immediate and intense distress. On reunion they may show conflicting desires for and against contact such as resisting being picked while tying other means to maintain proximity.

Question 8

Strange situation evaluation weaknesses

Answer 8

• ) the study may have caused psychological harm as infants where separated from their carer but this was only to cause mild distress but some have questioned wether it is acceptable to do this to infants. Ainsworth claimed the procedure was to be in more disturbing then ordinary life, but in episode 60 20% of infants started crying desperately and in Japan it had to be stopped due to the inconsolable crying.
• ) the validity can be questioned as some people have said that depending on which parent they where with the infant behaved differently, this suggests the study doesn’t look at attachment type in general but a single relationship.
• ) it was carried out in a controlled environment so has low ecological validity as the infant or parent may have been behaving unnaturally.
• ) the study lacks population validity as it was carried out on American white middle class mothers and infants so it can’t be generalised it other cultures and ethnicities easily.

Question 9

Strange situation strengths

Answer 9

+) The reliability of the strange situation is very consistent as it uses inter rater reliability, Bick et al looked at the inter rater reliability found an agreement rate if 94% of the type of attachment an infant has.

+) it has real world applications as it helps caregivers understand when their infant may be distressed or anxious and leading to more securely attached infants

Question 10

Type D attachment

Answer 10

These are infants who don’t have a consistent pattern of social behaviours they lack a coherent strategy for dealing with stress or separation
A meta analysis of nearly 80 studies in the US found that 62% were secure, 15% type A, 9% type C and 14% type D