Ainsworth's 'Strange situation'

• Aim- to be able to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a baby's attachment to a caregiver.
• Procedure:

  • Controlled observation- measure security of attachment.
  • Takes place in a room with controlled conditions (laboratory) with a two-way mirror/cameras
• Procedure:

  • Proximity-seeking- a baby with a good quality attachment will stay fairly close to a caregiver
• Procedure:

  • Exploration and secure base behaviour- good attachment enable a baby to feel confident to explore, using caregiver as a secure base
• Procedure:

  • Strange anxiety- one of the signs of becoming closely attached is a display of anxiety when a stranger approaches
• Procedure:

  • Separation anxiety- another sign of becoming attached is to protest at separation from the caregiver.
• Procedure:

  • Response to reunion- babies who are securely attached greet the caregivers return with pleasure and seek comfort
• Procedure: Several steps, 3 minutes long

  1. Baby encouraged to explore- tests exploration and secure base
  2. Strange comes in, talks to caregiver and approaches baby- strange anxiety
  3. Caregiver leaves baby and stranger together- separation and stranger anxiety
  4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves- reunion behavior/secure base
  5. Caregiver leaves baby alone- separation anxiety
  6. Stranger returns- stranger anxiety
  7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with baby- reunion behaviour
• Findings:

  Secure attachment (Type B)- babies explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver.

  • Moderate separation and stranger anxiety
  • Require and accept comfort from the caregiver upon reunion
  • 60%-75% of British babies classified as secure
• Findings:

  Insecure- avoidant attachment (type A)- explore freely but don't seek proximity or show secure base behaviour

  • Show little to no separation or stranger anxiety
  • Little effort to make contact upon reunion, some even avoiding contact
  • 20-25% British babies
• Findings:

  Insecure-resistant attachment (type C)- seek greater proximity than others and explore less

  • High levels of stranger and separation anxiety
  • Resist comfort upon reunion
  • 3% British babies
• Strength: Good predictive validity

  • Outcomes predict a number of aspects of a baby's later development
  • Secure- better outcomes than others
  • Childhood- better achievements and less involvement in bullying.
  • Adulthood- better mental health
  • Suggests SS measures something real and meaningful in a baby's development.
• Counterpoint to good predictive validity:

  • SS clearly measures something important that is associated with later development
  • But- not all psychologists believe this something is attachment
  • E.g. Kagan- suggested that genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour in SS and later development.
  • Means that SS may not actually measure attachment
• Strength: Good reliability

  • Good inter-rater reliability
  • Bick- tested inter-rater reliability for SS for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases.
  • High level of agreement- crontolled observations and the involvement of large movements
  • Means we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by SS doesn't depend on subjective judgement.
• Limitation: culture-bound

  • May not be valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts
  • SS developed in Britain and USA
  • Babies have different experiences in different cultures.
  • E.G.- Takahashi suggests this anxiety response was not due to high rated of attachment insecurity but to unusual nature of experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is very rare.
  • Means very difficult to know what the SS is measuring when used outside of Europe and the US.