Ainsworth’s strange situation

• Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation research.


  Ainsworth’s strange situation involves observing infants and their mothers in a controlled environment to assess what type of attachment they have formed.

  The procedure involves recording operationalised behavioural categories in a standardised series of 8 episodes each lasting 3 minutes each.
• Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation research. 


  For example, the mother and infant first enter a room with toys to assess the infant’s exploration behaviour and use of the mother as a safe base. In other episodes, a stranger enters to measure stranger anxiety and the mother leaves to measure separation anxiety. In the final episode, the mother returns to assess the infants’ reunion behaviour. 
• Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation research.


  Ainsworth found that there were three types of attachment: secure (most common) whereby the primary caregiver is sensitive to their infant’s needs; insecure-resistant (least common) whereby the primary caregiver was inconsistent with their care; and insecure-avoidant whereby the primary caregiver was insensitive to their infant’s needs
• Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation research.


  Infants with a secure attachment would show exploration behaviour and use the mother as a safe base. They would also show happiness upon reunion and be easily soothed. In contrast, infants with an insecure-resistant attachment would not explore the room and would resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver. Finally, infants with an insecure-avoidant attachment would explore the room without using the mother as a safe base and would be indifferent when the mother returns.
• Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation research.


  Infants with a secure attachment would also show moderate separation and stranger anxiety whereas infants with an insecure-resistant attachment would show extreme levels and infants with an insecure-avoidant attachment would show no separation or stranger anxiety.
• Evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation research: high level of control. 


  It involved a standardised series of 8 episodes that all lasted the same amount of time for each infant. This is a strength because it enables the research to be easily replicated to check the reliability of the findings into types of attachment. The high level of control also prevents extraneous variables from affecting the results e.g. it is important that each child spends the same amount of time in each episode because they may have shown more separation anxiety regardless of the type of attachment they had.
• Evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation research: used operationalised behavioural categories. 


  This is because the observations involved observing pre-determined specific behaviours such as exploration behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and reunion behaviour. This is a strength as it makes the research more objective and increases the inter-observer reliability of the findings. Indeed, research has found an inter-observer reliability rate of 94% when using the strange situation.
• Evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation research: may lack ecological validity.


  This is because it was conducted in an artificial lab environment that the infant is not familiar with. This is a limitation because the infants may act differently compared to if they were being observed in their everyday homes. As a result, the strange situation may be measuring their response to being in an unfamiliar environment rather than their attachment type.
• Evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation research: fails to consider how individual differences can affect the type of attachment.


  Children who regularly attend day care may show characteristics of insecure avoidant attachment. This is because they are used to being separated from their mother and so are likely to show no separation anxiety. Infants who are shy may be identified as having an insecure-resistant attachment despite having a secure attachment. This is a limitation because these factors could lead to incorrect attachment types being identified in the infants.