Types Of Attachment - Evaluation

Question 1

What is a limitation of the Strange Situations regarding cultural applicability?

Answer 1

May not apply to all cultures

Babies have different experiences in different cultures
- Takahashi suggested babies have very high separation anxiety, not due to attachment insecurity but due to unfamiliar conditions
> japanese babies dont tend to be away from their mother at al

Question 2

What is a strength of the Strange Situations procedure regarding later development?

Answer 2

Predicts aspects of babies’ later development

• lots of research suggests secure babies have better childhoods (less bullying and better academic success) and adulthood (better mental health)
• insecure resistant have the worst outcomes
• strange situation measures something real and meaningful

Question 3

What’s a limitation of strange situation?

Answer 3

Not all psychologists agree its measuring attachment

Kagan suggests that genetic anxiety could account for the differences in childhood and adulthood

Question 4

What’s more strengths of strange situations?

Answer 4

• Good inter-rater reliability (repeated and produced same results 94% of the time)
• lab conditions and observable behaviours (controlled variables: internal validity)
• based on evidence and not subjective (compared to studies that relied on mothers reports - schaffer and emerson)