Types Of Attachment Flashcards
What study was used when identifying the stages of attachment
The strange situation.
It’s a controlled observation designed to measure the security of attachment a baby displays towards a caregiver. It takes place in a room with toys and a two way mirror and cameras so psychologists can observe the babies behaviours.
What behaviours were used to assess attachment
Proximity seeking - how close does the child stay to the parent
Exploration and security base - how often/much does the child go back to their parent after playing
Stranger anxiety - level of distress when a stranger enters the room
Separation anxiety - level of distress when the parent leaves the room
Response upon reunion - level of happiness when the mother occurs
Whats the strange situation procedure and what each stage measures
The care giver encourages the baby to explore (exploration and security base)
Stranger enters, talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby (stranger anxiety)
The caregiver leaves stranger and baby alone (separation and stranger anxiety)
The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves (reunion behaviour and exploration)
Caregiver leaves baby alone (separation anxiety)
Stranger returns (stranger anxiety)
Caregiver is reunited with the baby (reunion behaviour)
Findings from the strange situation
Found that there are 4 different types of attachment:
Secure attachment
Insecure-avoidant attachment
Insecure-resistant attachment
Disorganised attachment (very uncommon)
Characteristics of secure attachment
Infants explore happily when their mother is present and regularly go back to her.
They show distress when she leaves and joy upon reunion
They show clear preference to the their mother and shows anxiety towards the stranger
About 65%-75% of babies in the uk are secure
Characteristics if insecure-avoidant
Infants explore freely when their mother is present or absent
They don’t show a security base behaviour
Little to no reaction when the mother leaves/enters
Show little stranger anxiety
About 20%-25% of babies in the uk
Characteristics of insecure-resistant
They seek greater proximity and explore less
High levels of stranger and separation anxiety
Upon reunion they get angry and could possibly push them away and reject them
3% of babies in the uk are insecure- resistant
Characteristics of disorganised attachment
Unusual type of attachment and show a mixture of both insecure attachment types
They have generally experiences some sort of neglect or abuse during childhood
Strength evaluation
P- good predictive validity
E-secure attached babies often have better outcomes the others in childhood and adulthood. Such as a better success at school, as they aren’t involved in bulling and can achieve more.
E- measuring something meaningful in the babies development
P- high inter-rater reliability
E- different observers watching the same baby often agree on the same attachment type. This is because the strange situation is carried out in a controlled environment and the behavioural categories are easy to observe.
E- doesn’t rely of subjective judgments and can be confident on identifying the attachment type
Limitation evaluation
P- culture bound
E- it was developed in the Britain and the US, therefore babies outside of here may have a different response because of their culture. A Japanese study showed that babies showed high levels of separation anxiety, which isn’t due to the children being insecure-resistant, but because mother and baby separation is very rare in japan
E- difficult to use this study to measure attachment types outside of Britain and the US
P- age restriction
E- The Strange Situation is primarily used for children between 12-18 months, a narrow developmental window. This means it doesn’t provide insights into attachment patterns in older children or those at different developmental stages.
E- cant identify types of attachment in everyone
