7. Ainsworth Strange situation

• What was the aim of Ainsworth Strange situation


  The 'strange situation' was devised to systematically test nature of attachment and was aimed to see how infants between 9-18 months behave under conditions of mild stress and novelty
• What type of observation was Ainsworth strange situation


  It was a controlled observation through a two-way mirror
• What was the procedure of Ainsworth strange situation


  In a 9X9 room a child was put through 8 different stages each lasting 3 minutes involving being left with a caregiver, a stranger or alone. This enabled them to see the infants response to being separated from their caregiver (separation anxiety), reunited with a caregiver (reunion behaviour), meeting with a stranger (stranger anxiety) and a novel environment to order to give a baseline reaction.
• How were the infants behaviours observed 


  The infants behaviour was observed using a video camera they were assessed every 15 seconds on factors such as proximity, avoidance and search behaviours
• What were the findings from Ainsworth strange situation


  Ainsworth combined findings from several studies so the total number of middle class infants was 106. She found general trends of behaviour such as a decline in exploration after stage 2 and an increase of crying. She also found 3 patterns of behaviour which she grouped into attachment types: secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant
• What is the secure attachment type 


  The secure attachment type is the most common attachment type according to Ainsworth which was found in 66% of the infants. Infants who were securely attached showed some levels of separation anxiety when the caregiver left the room but were easily soothed when the caregiver returned. A securely attached infant is also able to play independently but used their caregiver as a safe base to explore a new environment
• What is the insecure resistant attachment type


  The insecure resistant attachment type was the least common attachment type which only accounted for 3% of children. It is when the infant becomes very distressed and tries to follow caregiver when they leave but when they return the infant repeatedly switches from seeking and rejecting social interaction and intimacy with them. They are less inclined to explore new environments
• What is the insecure avoidant attachment type

  The insecure avoidant attachment type was the 2nd most common attachment type and accounted for 20% of children. It is when the infant shows no separation anxiety when the carer leaves the room and shows no stranger anxiety when stranger enters the room. They may shows anger and frustration towards their carer and actively avoid social interaction and intimacy with them. They are able to easily explore and play independently no matter who is present
• What is a strength of Ainsworth strange situation


  Practical interventions have been developed based on Ainsworth research to help fix attachments that display disordered patterns. The circle of Security Project teaches parents to better understand their infants signals of distress after the project there was a decreased number of attachments classed as disordered (from 60% to 15%) and an increase in secure attachment (32% to 40%).
• What are we able to see through the development of interventions


  Through the development of these interventions we are able to see the practicality of conducting the observation due to its ability to be applied to real life. It helps parents notice when infant may be displaying signs of distress and also learn how to better communicate with them especially in times of need so that when in a new environment its not an experience shock infants are able to adapt confidently and independently to new environmental climates alongside able to control emotions when caregiver is not present
• What is a limitation of the observation


  A limitation is that the observation only measured the relationship type with one attachment figure (mother)
• What are the implications of using only one attachment figure


  This potentially means that the wrong attachment type for a child may have been identified as although they may not be strongly attached to their mother they may be securely attached to their father or an extended family member it has failed to consider that infants may share an attachment with another individual in their family whom they consider as their ' primary parental figure' the study has wrongly assumed that the child is automatically closer to their mother than any other adult figure
• What is further limitation of the observation


  The study lacks population validity as it was primarily based on Western culture almost all of the studies were carried out in America.
• What does the study suffer from due to study being primarily conducted in America 


  This therefore tells us that this study suffers from cultural bias so we are less able to generalise the findings and criteria to other cultures in particular (collectivist) cultures alongside cultural differences in upbringing and the experience which the child is exposed to this suggests that the findings are culture bound and lack cultural relativism and because results can only be generalised to the research settings within which they were found
• What is a weakness of this study

  There's evidence to suggest that the original classification system was incomplete as some infants may not fit in original categories of attachments as a fourth attachment type e.g. disorganised attachment this is characterised by a lack of consistent patterns on social behaviour has since identified this could be due to the fact that only measured attachment of one parental figure
• What is another strength of Ainsworth strange situation

  One strength of Ainsworth's strange situation is that the observations had high reliability
• explanation?

  This suggests that there was high inter-observer reliability among researchers as anything above 80% is considered good meaning there was good consistency in researchers observations
• link?

  This increases the usefulness of the strange situation research as it suggests the researchers had clear operationalised behavioural categories that could be sued again to check consistency of findings