strange situation: Mary Ainsworth 1978

Question 1

AO1: strange situation

Answer 1

aim: to test the nature of attachment in infants when they are in stressful situations
procedure: 100 middle class American infants and mothers in a controlled observation in lab setting. Mother and baby in room, baby free to explore. Stranger enters and tries to interact with baby (stranger anxiety). Mother leaves and stranger tries to comfort baby (separation and stranger anxiety). Mother returns and stranger leaves (reunion behaviour).

Question 2

AO1: findings

Answer 2

exploration: secure baby returns to mother at interval, insecure avoidant baby doesn’t return to mother and insecure resistant baby doesn’t explore environment

separation and stranger anxiety: secure babies is moderate, insecure avoidant babies is low and insecure resistant babies is high

reunion behaviour: secure baby seeks proximity and is easily comforted, insecure avoidant baby shows little reaction and insecure resistant baby seeks mother but then rejects her.

Question 3

AO3: limitation- lacks ecological validity

strength- high internal validity

Answer 3

P: low ecological validity
E: conducted in controlled, artificial setting which is unfamiliar to both the mothers and infants.
E: babies may act different to how they would act at home.
L: this means the findings from the strange situation can’t be generalised to real life situations
HOWEVER, the study has high internal validity as it took place under strict, controlled conditions using predetermined categories. also had multiple observers watching and majority agreed on attachment classifications.

Question 4

AO3: limitation- ethical issues

However, mother would return if child was too stressed

Answer 4

P: breaches ethical guidelines
E/E: the child is put under stress (separation and stranger anxiety) which creates ethical issues of protection of harm as they may get psychological damage.
L: shows the research done by Mary Ainsworth has ethical issues
HOWEVER, if the child became too stressed when the mother left, she would return quicker than planned. Also simulating real life experience e.g. mother leaving baby with babysitter

Question 5

AO3: limitation- methodological issue- overt observation

Answer 5

P: the observation was overt
E: the participants knew they were being observed through a one way mirror and may have displayed demand characteristics
E: e.g. mothers being overly affectionate to their child, altering the child’s behaviour and leading to the collection of invalid data.
L: shows the strange situation is low in internal validity

Question 6

limitation: possibility her classifications system of attachment types is incomplete

Answer 6

P: there may be another attachment type
E/E: researchers analysed videotapes of the strange situation. and suggested Ainsworth overlook a 4th type of attachment as some babies showed inconsistent patterns, they called this type D: insecure disorganised.
L: shows Mary Ainsworth’s conclusions from the strange situation are incomplete