lesson 7 Ainsworth's strange situation attachments Flashcards
how is type of attachment tested?
the strange situation
what does the strange situation test specifically?
stranger anxiety
separation anxiety
who does the strange situation test?
infants aged between 9 to 18 months
what environment was the strange situation carried out in?
a novel environment in a research room with 9 x 9 foot square marked off into 16 squares to help in recording the infant’s movement
how many episodes did it consist of?
7
how long did the episodes last for?
about 3 minutes
what type of experiment and observation was it?
controlled observation
lab experiment
what did episode 1 consist of?
parent sits while infant plays as infant is encouraged to explore
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 1?
use of parent as a secure base and exploration behaviour
what did episode 2 consist of?
stranger enters, talks to the parent and approaches the infant
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 2?
stranger anxiety
what did episode 3 consist of?
parent leaves the room, leaving infant and stranger together
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 3?
separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
what did episode 4 consist of?
parent returns, offers comfort to infant and stranger leaves
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 4?
reunion behaviour and exploration/ secure base
what did episode 5 consist of?
parent leaves the infant alone in the room
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 5?
separation anxiety
what did episode 6 consist of?
stranger enters and offers comfort
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 6?
stranger anxiety
what did episode 7 consist of?
parent returns, greets infant and offers comfort
what was the behaviour assessed in episode 7?
reunion behaviour
who is the data collected by?
group of observers
what do the observers do?
note down what the infant is doing every 15 seconds
also notes down which of the behaviours are shown and scores behaviour from 1 to 7 on a s Cale of intensity
behaviours:
proximity and contact-seeking behaviours
contact-maintaining behaviours
proximity and interaction-avoiding behaviours
contact and interaction-resisting behaviours
search behaviours
what are the three main types of attachments?
type a- insecure avoidant
type b- secure
type c- insecure resistant
what are the behaviours of a secure attachment?
high willingness to explore
high stranger anxiety
some separation anxiety but easy to soothe
enthusiastic reunion with caregiver
what are the behaviours of a insecure avoidant attachment?
high willingness to explore
low stranger anxiety
indifferent to separation anxiety
avoids contact with caregiver at reunion
what are the behaviours of a insecure resistant attachment?
low willingness to explore
high stranger anxiety
distressed at separation anxiety
seeks and rejects contact with caregiver at reunion
what percentage of the babies were type b?
66%
what percentage of the babies were type a?
22%
what percentage of the babies were type c?
12%
what are the strengths of the strange situation?
it has high inter-rater reliability, Ainsworth found almost perfect agreement of 0.94 meaning it is a reliable method to test types of attachments because independent observers were in agreement with what they saw.
it has real world application so where disordered patterns of attachment develop intervention strategies can be developed, for example the circle of security project teaches caregivers to understand their babies signals better which showed a decrease in the number of disordered attachments
what are the weaknesses of the strange situation?
it fails to measure other types of attachments, main and Solomon analysed over 200 strange situation videotapes and proposed insecure- disorganised attachment type which is when babies have a lack of consistent patterns in social behaviour like showing very strong attachment and then avoiding their caregiver.
ethical issues, it could cause possible psychological harm to the babies, in episode six 20% of the babies cried desperately and in Japan the experiment had to be stopped at episode 6 as many of the babies were crying uncontrollably
concerns with validity, Main and Weston found that children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with meaning it may not be valid as it is measuring for one relationship instead of the babies general attachment type
low ecological validity as it is a lab study
lacks population validity carried out on white middle-class mothers and infants
