Types of attachment Flashcards
who developed strange situation
Developed by Mary Ainsworth and Silvia Bell. It is a controlled observation using a two way mirror where psychologists can observe a baby’s behaviour to measure the security of attachments.
what are the behaviours used to judge attachment
Proximity seeking – infants with good quality attachments will stay fairly close to a caregiver
Exploration and secure-base behaviour – good attachments let infant feel confident to explore using their caregiver as a secure base
Stranger anxiety – display of anxiety when stranger approaches
Separation anxiety – protest at separation from the caregiver
Response to reunion – securely attached greet caregiver’s return with pleasure and seek comfort.
procedure of strange situation
1) The baby is encouraged to explore – tests exploration and secure base
2) A stranger comes in, talks to caregiver and approaches baby – tests stranger anxiety
3) The caregiver leaves stranger and baby together – tests separation and stranger anxiety
4) The caregiver returns and stranger leaves – tests reunion behaviour and exploration and secure base
5) The caregiver leaves the baby alone – tests separation anxiety
6) The stranger returns – tests stranger anxiety
7) The caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby – tests reunion behaviour
findings
Ainsworth identified three main types of attachment. 66% had secure attachments, 22% had insecure-avoidant attachments, 12% had insecure-resistant attachments.
Secure attachment - (type B) explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver as a secure base. Show moderate separation and stranger anxiety. They require and accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage.
Insecure-avoidant attachment - (type A) explore freely but don’t seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour. Show little reaction when caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety. Shows little reaction upon mothers return and often ignores her.
Insecure-resistant attachment - (type C) seek greater proximity than others and so explore less. Show high levels of stranger and separation anxiety. They seek proximity but resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver.
Evaluation of types of attachment (brief)
strength - good inter-rater reliability
weakness - lacks ecological validity
weakness - culture bound
strength of types of attachment
good inter-rater reliability. Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for the strange situation and found an agreement on attachment types in 94% of cases. This high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. For example, anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers. Therefore we can be confident that attachment type assessed by the strange situation doesn’t depend on subjective judgements.
weaknesses of types of attachment
the study lacks ecological validity as it occurs in a controlled environment where the researchers manipulated the environment. The environment is unnatural to the child and so the children may have acted different to how they would act in a more familiar setting. This therefore makes Ainsworth’s finding less externally valid.
may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts. The strange situation was developed in UK and the US so may be culture-bound. One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the strange situation. For example, in a Japanese study babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety and so a disproportionate amount were classified as insecure-resistant. This was suggested to be because of the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is rare. Therefore, this means it is difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring when used outside of Europe and the US.
