TYPES OF ATTACHMENT

Question 1

Who studied types of attachment?

Answer 1

-Ainsworth (1978)

Question 2

What was the strange situation experiment?

Answer 2

• assessed types of attachment in 9-18 month old infants
• placed a child and their mother in a novel environment
• controlled observation and videoed through a one way mirror during a series of 8 different situations

Question 3

What were the 4 key behaviours measured by the strange situation experiment?

Answer 3

• exploration behaviours (how child explores environment and if they use mother as base)
• separation anxiety (child response when mother leaves the room)
• stranger anxiety (child response to a stranger)
• reunion behaviours(how child acts when reunited with the mother)

Question 4

How did Ainsworth classify her findings?

Answer 4

• depending on child responses it would lead to one of three attachment classifications
• secure 66%
• insecure avoidant 22%
• insecure resistant 12%

Question 5

What was the behaviour of securely attached infants?

Answer 5

• happy to explore novel environment if mother was present
• showed moderate distress when mother left
• greeted positively when she returned
• moderate avoidance of stranger without mother
• 66%

Question 6

What was the behaviour of insecurely avoidant infants?

Answer 6

• didn’t orientate to mother while exploring room
• didn’t seem concerned of her absence
• little interest when she returned
• also not interested in the stranger
• 22%

Question 7

What was the behaviour of insecure resistant infants?

Answer 7

• showed intense distress, especially in absence of parent
• sought contact but also rejected and resisted contact
• ambivalent behaviour towards stranger
• 12%

Question 8

What is the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis?

Answer 8

• association between mothers behaviour and infants attachment type
• attachment depends on the warm and loving responsiveness of the caregiver

Question 9

What is a methodological weakness of Ainsworths study?

Answer 9

• Ainsworth used overt observation
• parents knew they were being studied through one way mirror and may have displayed demand characteristics
• mothers may have been overly affectionate as they believed this is what was expected
• could have altered child’s behaviour
• lowered internal validity make it a less valid method to use

Question 10

What is a weakness of Ainsworths study in terms of cultural factors?

Answer 10

• displayed culture bias as theories based on western ideals of infant behaviour
• this projected children from other cultures as more as insecure avoidant (Germany) and insecure resistant (Japan)
• not valid for assessing attachment in non American cultures

Question 11

What is a strength of Ainsworths experiment?

Answer 11

• high reliability and replicability
• strict and controlled methods, video recording and predetermined behavioural categories
• several observers watching and coding the same infant ensuring agreement on attachment type
• Ainsworth found 94% agreement between observers
• high inter observer reliability causes results to be more meaningful

Question 12

What is the negative evaluation for Ainsworths study being incomplete?

Answer 12

• main & Solomon (1986) conducted subsequent research
• analysed hundreds of strange situations by video tape and found a fourth attachment type
• infants showed insecure disorganised (inconsistent patterns of behaviour)
• further support from van ljzendoorn et al meta analysis
• found 15% infants were insecure disorganised