Evaluating Ainsworth's Strange Situation: Types Of Attachment

Question 1

Other types of attachment:
Main Solomon (1986)

Answer 1

analysed over 200 strange situations and proved the INSECURE DISORGANISED which is characterised by a lack of consistent patterns of social behaviour and lack a coherent strategy for dealing with stress and separation

Question 2

Observations had high reliability:

Ainsworth et al. (1978)

Answer 2

when using inter-observer reliability, there was an almost perfect agreement between eaters at .94 with 1.00 being perfect showing observations could be accepted due to being reliable

Question 3

Real-world application:

Cooper et. al. (2005)

Answer 3

formed the The Circle of Security Project that teaches caregivers to better understand their infants signals of distress and anxiety. This project showed a decrease in caregivers classified as disordered, from 60% to 15%

Question 4

Maternal reflective functioning:

Answer 4

ain’t worth suggested that secure attachment was linked to sensitivity but some studies have found low correlations for sensitivity and strength of attachment.
Slade found a greater role of mater al reflective functioning which is the ability for the mother to understand how the infant is thinking and feeling which was a central mechanism in attachment types

Question 5

Low internal validity:

Main and Weston

Answer 5

the strange situation aimed to measure the attachment type of a child. However it was suggested that what was measure was the quality of a particular relationship. Infants often behave differently with each parent.
The study may lack validity due to merely measuring the quality of the infants relationship with the mother.