attachment: Ainsworth's strange situation Flashcards
when did the strange situation study occur
1969
The aim of this observation is to be able to observe
key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the
quality of a child’s attachment to a caregiver.
this takes place in a room with a two-way mirror
what behaviours were studied
- proximity seeking
- exploration and secure base behaviour
- stranger anxiety
- separation anxiety
- response to reunion
define proximity seeking
An infant with a good attachment will stay fairly close to the caregiver
define exploration and secure base behaviour
A good attachment enables the child to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base
define stranger anxiety
A sign of becoming closely attached is a display of anxiety when a stranger approaches
define separation anxiety
Another sign of becoming closely attached is to protest at separation
define response to reunion
With the caregiver after a short period of time under controlled conditions
how many stages of the procedure and how long was each stage
7 stages
each stage was 3 minutes
outline the stages of the procedure
- Child encouraged to explore > Exploration and secure base
- Stranger enters and tries to interact with child > Stranger anxiety
- Caregiver leaves stranger and child alone > Separation and stranger anxiety
- Caregiver returns, stranger leaves > Reunion behaviour and exploration secure base
- The caregiver leaves the child alone > Separation anxiety
- The stranger returns > Stranger anxiety
- The caregiver returns and is reunited with the child > Reunion behaviour
outline the results
Children were observed through a one-way mirror and were classed as one of the 3 attachment types below based on their responses to the 7 stages:
1. Secure attachment
2. Insecure avoidant attachment
3. Insecure resistant attachment
Most children appeared to be securely attached. The results highlight the role of the mother’s behaviour in
determining the quality of attachment
what are the 3 attachment types
- secure
- insecure-avoidant
- insecure-resistant
outline secure attachment
- Uses the mother as a safe
base - Happy to explore the room
when mother’s present - Moderate distress when
mother leaves - Welcomes mother back when
she returns - Some stranger anxiety
outline insecure-avoidant attachment
- Do not seek proximity or
secure base behaviour - Do not react when caregiver
leaves or seek comfort from
them when they return - Little stranger and separation
anxiety
outline insecure-resistant
- No exploration behaviour
– seek closeness at all
times - Very upset when mother
leaves - Reject mother’s attempts
to comfort them - Show huge stranger
distress
AO3: good predictive validity
One strength of the strange situation is that its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby’s
later development
Research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as securely attached tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and adulthood. This includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying.
STRENGTH as this suggests that the strange situation measures something real and meaningful in a baby’s development
AO3: high reliability
The strange situation has good inter-observer reliability
Different observers watching the same children in the strange situation generally agree on what attachment type to classify them with.
This is because the situation takes place under controlled conditions and because the behavioural categories are easy to observe and provide an objective measure
This is evident by Bick et al. They found observers agreed on attachment type for 94% of tested babies
STRENGTH as this suggests that we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant identified in the strange situation is not based on a subjective decision.
AO3: cultural bias
The Strange Situation was designed by an** American** according to observations of US children. Consequently, the criteria used to classify infants are based on US values, relating to child-parent behaviour. It could be argued that this is ethnocentric, so observations of non-Americans will be judged according to American standards.
For example German babies were classified as insecure avoidant for not showing distress on separation. But, German parents would suggest their babies are more independent due to their own child rearing practices.
However this is not recognised in Ainsworth’s findings. WEAKNESS as this reduces the research’s ability to be
generalised to other cultures.
