Ainsworth's Strange Situation Flashcards
What was Ainsworth’s strange situation?
- an observation to investigate child attachment
- the strange situation has become increasingly popular due to its strengths as a diagnostic tool
- involves increasingly stressful experiences for the child - the reactions determine the attachment type
What was the procedure for the strange situation?
- P’s were infants aged 9-18 months from 100 middle class American families
- research room was a 7.5m space separated into 16 squares to help record infants movements
- data gathered by observers behind one way mirror or recording
- generally use time sampling to record infant every 15 seconds
What does press stand for
- Proximity seeking
- Reunion behaviour
- Exploration + secure base behaviour
- Separation anxiety
- Stranger anxiety
How long was each episode of the strange situation?
How many episodes were there?
- 3 minutes
- 7 (sometimes 8 as the first is split into two)
What was episode one and what behaviour is it assessing?
- Infant and caregiver are placed in a room with toys, child is free to explore the room
- Use of caregiver as a secure base
What was episode two and what behaviour is it assessing?
- Stranger enters, talks to caregiver and attempts to play with child
- Stranger anxiety
What was episode three and what behaviour is it assessing?
- Caregiver leaves child with stranger
- Separation anxiety
What was episode four and what behaviour is it assessing?
- Caregiver re-enters, greets infant and stranger leaves
- reunion behaviour
What was episode five and what behaviour is it assessing?
- caregiver leaves and child is alone
- separation anxiety
What was episode six and what behaviour is it assessing?
- Stranger re-enters and attempts so interact with infant
- stranger anxiety
What was episode seven and what behaviour is it assessing?
- stranger leaves and caregiver re-enters
- reunion behaviour
What was each type of attachment Ainsworth found? And what were the percentages?
- Type A - Insecure Avoidant - 15%
- Type B - Securely Attached - 70%
- Type C - Insecure Resistant - 15%
What was the fourth attachment type Main and Soloman introduced?
- Insecure-disorganised
- infant shows no consistent patterns of social behaviour, lacks a coherent strategy for dealing with separation and shows a combination of strong attachment behaviour and avoidance or fear
What type of caregiving is associated with each of the attachment types?
- Type A - unresponsive primary care
- Type B - sensitive and responsive primary care
- Type C - inconsistent primary care
What did Ainsworth find for each letter of press in attachment type A?
P-infant is indifferent towards caregiver and play is little affected by their presence/absence
R- infant is unresponsive when caregiver returns
E- infant explores freely
S- unconcerned by mothers absence and avoidant of caregiver and stranger (no separation anxiety)
S- avoid strangers (some stranger anxiety)
