Strange Situation

Question 1

What was the procedure and behaviour used to judge the attachment

Answer 1

Procedure: The study took place in an unfamiliar room with one way glass, so the behaviour of the infants could be observed covertly.
Infants were aged between 12 and 18 months. The sample comprised of 100 middle-class American families.
stranger
The behaviour used to judge the attachment included:
1. Proximity seeking: an infant with a secure attachment will stay fairly close to the caregiver.
2. Exploration: a secure attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore the room, using the caregiver as a secure base.
3. Separation anxiety: does the child protest when separated from the caregiver?
4. Stranger anxiety: if the attachment is secure, you would expect the child to display anxiety when approached by a stranger.
5. Reunion Response: this measures how the child reacts when finally reunited with the caregiver

Question 2

What were the 7 episodes of the procedure

Answer 2

The procedure had seven episodes, each lasting three minutes:
Beginning: Child and caregiver enter an unfamiliar playroom
1. The child is encouraged to
Tests exploration and secure base.
explore.
2. A stranger comes in and tries to
Tested stranger anxiety.
interact with the child.
3. The caregiver leaves the child and stranger together.
4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves.
5. The caregiver leaves the child
Tests separation and stranger anxiety.
Tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base.
Tests separation anxiety.
alone.
6. The stranger returns.
7. The caregiver returns and is
Tests stranger anxiety.
Tests reunion behaviour.
reunited with the child
Every aspect of participants’ behaviours was observed and videotaped, with most attention

Question 3

What were the findings

Answer 3

Insecure avoidant
The child does not seek contact from the mother.
(25% of infants)
The child seems unconcerned when the mother leaves.
The child shows few signs of distress and ignored or avoided the stranger.
The child ignores the mother on her return

Secure
Mother is seen as
The child cries
a safe hase from shortly after which the child the mother can explore.
leaves
The child is wary of the stranger and maintains closeness to its mother.
The child seeks contact when the mother returns and is easy to comfort.

Insecure resistant

The child is wary of their mother, and they don’t explore their environment.
The child shows intense distress when the mother has left.
The child is extremely distressed when left with the stranger.
The child is
AMBIVALENT (seeking and rejecting the mother e.g., crying for the mother but then pushing her away.)

Question 4

What are the 4 strengths

Answer 4

Reliable measure: P-One strength is that the Strange Situation is a reliable measure of attachment; it takes place under controlled conditions and the behavioural categories are easy to observe. E-Bick (2012) looked at the inter-rater reliability in a team of trained Strange Situation observers and found agreement on attachment type of 94% of tested babies. L-This means we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant identified in the Strange Situation does not just depend on who is observing them.
Lacks ecological validity: P-One issue is that critics argue the findings are inaccurate as the Strange Situation is an unrealistic situation for both the infant and caregiver. E-Some researchers suggests attachment types tend to be stronger in this controlled setting rather than in the child’s own home. E-E.g., they may cry less when in a familiar environment. L-This reduces the ecological validity of the procedure and limits its applicability.
V Culturally biased: -Another issue of the Strange Situation is based on American attachment behaviours and ignores how child rearing practices in other cultures may affect behaviour in the strange situation. E-For example, Japanese infants are rarely separated from their parents, E-therefore, this can result in the child being wrongly classified as being insecure resistant. L-This reduces the external validity of the procedure and limits its applicability.
Good predictive validity: P-One strength of the Strange Situation is that its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby’s later development. E-A large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as Type B (secure) tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and in adulthood. E-In childhood this includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying (McCornick et al 2016, Kokkinos 2007).
Securley attached babies, also tend to go on to have better mental health in adulthood Ward et al. 2006) L-This suggests that the Strange Situation measures something real and