Types of attachment Flashcards
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation procedure
Types of attachment
Controlled observation designed to measure security of attachment a baby displays toward a caregiver
Takes place in room w/ controlled conditions & a two-way mirror
Behaviours used to judge attachment:
1. Proxmity seeking
2. Exploration & secure base behaviour
3. Stranger anxiety
4. Separation anxiety
5. Response to reunion
Procedure has 7 episodes, each lasts 3 mins
1. Baby is encouraged to explore
2. Stranger comes in, talks to caregiver & approaches baby
3. Caregiver leaves baby & stranger together
4. Stranger leaves & caregiver returns
5. Caregiver leaves baby alone
6. Stranger returns
7. Caregiver returns & is reunited w/ baby
Ainsworth’s findings: Secure attachment
Types of attachment
Type B
These babies explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver
Usually show moderate seperation distress & moderate stranger anxiety
Securely attached babies require & accept comfort from caregiver during reunion
About 60-75% of UK babies are secure
Ainsworth’s findings: Insecure-avoidant attachment
Types of attachment
Type A
These babies explore freely but don’t seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour
Show little or no reaction when caregiver leaves & little stranger anxiety
Make no effort to make contact when caregiver returns & may avoid such contact
About 20-25% of UK babies are I-A
Ainsworth’s findings: Insecure-resistant attachment
Types of attachment
Type C
These babies seek greater proximity than others and explore less
Show high levels of stranger & seperation distress but resist comfort when reunited w/ caregiver
Around 3% of UK babies are I-R
Evaluation: Good predictive validity
Types of attachment
Strength: predicts number of aspects of baby’s later development
Larger body of research shows babies & toddlers assess as secure tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood & adulthood
In childhood, this includes better achievement in school & less involvement in bullying (McCormick et al & Kokkinos)
Secure babies tend to go on to have better mental health in adulthood (Ward et al)
Babies assessed as having I-R & those not falling into Types A, B or C tend to have worst outcomes
Therefore, SS measure something real & meaningful in baby’s development
Evaluation: Good predictive validity (Counterpoint)
Types of attachment
SS clearly measures something important associated w/ later development
Not all psychologists believe this something is attachment
Kagan suggested that genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour is SS & later development
Therefore, SS may not actually measure attachment
Evaluation: Good reliability
Types of attachment
Strength: good inter-rater reliability
Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for SS for a team of trained observers & found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases
High level of reliability may be because procedure takes place under controlled conditions & because behaviours involve large movements & so they’re easy to observe
Therefore, we can confident that attachment type as assessed by SS does not depend on subjective judgements
Evaluation: Test may be culture-bound
Types of attachment
Limit: may not be valid measure of attachment in diff cultural contexts
SS developed in UK & US
May be culture bound
One reason for this is that babies have diff experiences in diff cultures & this may affect their responses to SS
E.g. in Japanese study by Takahashi babies displayed high levels of separation anxiety so disproportionate number were classified as I-R
Takahashi suggests this anxiety response wasn’t due to high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is very rare
Therefore, its very difficult to know what the SS is measuring when used outside Europe & US
