Low ECOLOGICAL validity

• • One weakness of Ainsworth’s strange situation is that it lacks ecological validity. ​
• • Ainsworth conducted her observation in a controlled, artificial setting which was unfamiliar to both the parents and the infants. ​
• • Therefore, the children she was observing may have acted differently to how they would act in a more familiar environment, such as at home. ​
• • This means that we do not know if the behaviours displayed by children (for example, high separation anxiety) would be the same when the children are not in a novel environment, making Ainsworth’s findings less externally valid.