Ainsworths strange situation

Question 1

what were the stages of the situation

Answer 1

1. caregiver enters room doesnt interact with child until it seeks attention
2. stranger enters talks to caregiver approaches kid w toy
3. caregiver exits room leaving kid w stranger
4. caregiver returns stranger leaves
5. caregiver leaves stranger returns

Question 2

3 types of attachment identified by Ainsworth

Answer 2

1) secure = most common type accounts 65%. Infant showed moderate separation, stranger anxiety. Easily soothed when parent returns. Able to play independtly uses parent as safe base to explore.

2) Insecure resistant = least common 3%. High separation, stranger anxiety. When caregiver returns infant rejects apology. Less inclined to explore and play independtly

3) Insecure avoidant = Accounts for 20%. No separation, stranger anxiety. Able to explore and play independtly

Question 3

Ethical issues

Answer 3

P = There are ethical issues involved
E= children showed heavy signs of distress like sobbing continuously
E= This highlights how its ethically inappropriate as large proportion of participants could of experienced physiological harm . This is unethical as could cause long term damage to child, for sake of a simple study.
L= Despite ethical issues not detracting from quality of research its important to conduct a cost- benefit analysis to assess wether the ethical costs are smaller than the benefits of an improved knowledge within this field

Question 4

Population validity

Answer 4

P= this study lacks population validity
E= It was primarily based on Western Cultures almost all the studies carried out in America
E= It therefore suffers from cultural bias, so we are less able to generalise findings to other cultures. This particularly the case due to individualist/ collectivist cultures divide between Eastern and Western cultures, alongside cultural differences regarding the Childs upbringing.
L= This suggests the findings are culture bound and also lack ecological validity, because the results can only be generalised to research settings they were found in.

Question 5

Ecological validity

Answer 5

P= The study lacks ecological validity
E= It was conducted in a lab setting so all extraneous variable well controlled.
E= Despite the strict control over confounding and extraneous variables increasing the confidence it can be placed drawing a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between the two outcomes. This is not representive of real life so lacks mundane realism so cant be generlised to reality.
E= However the high control over variables means its replicable so the findings are highly reliable. This increases onfidence in the idea that findings were not simply a ‘one off’ but were statiscally significant
L= This increases the confidence that can be placed

Question 6

Cultural variations of Ainsworth’s situation

Answer 6

1) Van Izjendoorn
- conducted a meta- analysis of 32 studies using 8 countries all investigating patterns of analysis across a variety of cultures
- All countries most common attachment type was secure
- In japan and israel second most common attachment type was Resistant compared to Western cultures like USA,UK second most common avoidant