Attachment - the strange situation

Question 1

who’s theory was Ainsworth building on?

Answer 1

Bowlby

Question 2

aim of the strange situation

Answer 2

to measure infants attachments with mothers

Question 3

who created the strange situation and when?

Answer 3

Mary Ainsworth (1970)

Question 4

what behaviours were used to judge attachment?

Answer 4

proximity to mother, exploration/safe base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and response to reunion

Question 5

types of attachment identified by Ainsworth

Answer 5

insecure avoidant (type A), secure (type B), insecure resistant (type C)

Question 6

strange situation procedure/method

Answer 6

100 American middle class infants, each stage lasted 3 minutes with each testing different behaviours. repeated measures experimental design

Question 7

results of the strange situation

Answer 7

2/3 type B
22% type A
12% type C

Question 8

conclusions from the strange situation

Answer 8

• significant individual differences between infants
• association between mothers behaviour and attachment type
• most American children are securely attached

Question 9

type B

Answer 9

secure attachment. indifferent to stranger when mother is near, shows stranger fear when mother is gone, becomes upset when mother leaves, happy when mother returns and quickly settles, returns to exploration

Question 10

type A

Answer 10

insecure avoidant attachment. plays with stranger regardless of mother being there, doesn’t check for mothers presence, not distressed at mothers absence and comforted by stranger, no interest in mothers return

Question 11

type C

Answer 11

insecure resistant attachment, fear of stranger even when mother is near, intense distress at mothers absence, wants comfort from mother but might resist comfort even if its desired

Question 12

strengths of the strange situation

Answer 12

+ highly controlled = high internal validity
+ operationalised and standardised procedures = high inter-rater reliability
+ predictive of later development
+ Bick et al (2012), research inter-rater reliability of the SS. found agreement by observers for 94% of babies attachments

Question 13

weaknesses of the strange situation

Answer 13

• culture bound
• lacks ecological validity
• mother showing demand characteristics?
• ethical issues, deliberately stressing
  infant
• Kagan (1982) suggest babies temperament is biological and mothers can’t change that. temperament = confounding variable
• Takashi (1990) Japanese mothers are rarely separated from infants so test doesn’t work in other countries