types of attachment

Question 1

procedure of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 1

controlled observation procedure designed to measure security of attachment baby displays towards caregiver
takes place in room with controlled conditions with two way mirror and cameras through psychologists can observe babys behaviour
proximity seeking-baby with good quality attachment will stay fairly close to caregiver
exploration and secure base behaviour-good attachment enables baby feel confident to explore using caregiver as secure base
stranger anxiety-signs of becoming closely attached display of anxiety when stranger approaches
separation anxiety- sign of becoming attached protest at separation from caregiver
response to reunion- babies securely attached greet caregivers return with pleasure and seek comfort
seven episodes last three minutes
baby encouraged to explore (tests exploration and secure base)
stranger comes in talks to caregiver and approaches baby (tests stranger anxiety)
caregiver leaves the baby and strenger togehter (tests separation and stranger anxiety)
cargiver returns and stranger leaves (tests reunion behaviour and exploration and secure base)
caregive leaves baby alone (tests separation anxiety)
stranger returns (tests stranger anxiety)
caregiver returns and is reunted with baby (tests reunion behaviour)

Question 2

findings of strange situation

Answer 2

secure attachment- babies explore happily but reguarly go back to caregiver, show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety, require and accept comfort from caregiver in reunion stage, 60-75% classified as this
insecure avoidant attachment- babies explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour, show little or not reaction when caregiver leaves and little stranger anxietyy, make little effort to amke conttact when caregiver returns and may avoid this, 20-25% classified
insecure resistant attachment- babies seek greater proximuty and explore less, show high levels of stranger and separation distress but resist comfort when reunited with caregiver, 3% classified

Question 3

good predictive validity (eval)

Answer 3

outcome predicts number of apects of nabys later development
large body research shown babies and toddlers assessed as type b tend to have better outcomes than others both in childhood and adulthood
better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying
tend to go on to have better mental health in adulthood
insecure resistant or not falling in to a b or c tned to have worst outcomes
suggests strange situation measures something real and meaingful

measures something important associatd with later development
not all believe that is attachment
kagan-genetically influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour and later development
may not actually measure attachment

Question 4

good reliability (eval)

Answer 4

good inter rateer reliability
bick-tested inter rater reliability for the strange situation for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% cases
high level of reliability may be because proecudre tales p[ace under controlled conditions and behaviour involves large movements so easy to observe
confident attachment type as assessed does not depend on subjective judgements

Question 5

test may be culture bound eval

Answer 5

may not be valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts
developed in britain and us- culture bound
babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect thjeir responses
takahashi-babies displayed high leels of separation anxiety and disproportionate number classified as insecure resistant, suggests this was due to unusual nature of the experience in japan mother baby separation rare
difficult to know what strange situation is measuring when used outside of europe and us