Types of attachment

• What is Ainsworth's strange situation?

  A controlled observation to measure the security of attachment a baby displays to a caregiver
• What behaviours were used to judge the attachment?

  • Proximity seeking
  • Exploration and safe-base behaviour
  • Strange anxiety
  • Seperation anxiety
  • Response to renuinion
• What were the findings of Ainsworth's study?

  There were 3 types of attachment that were identifieD

  • Secure attachment
  • Insecure-avoident attachment
  • Insecure-resistant attachment
• What is the secure attachment type?

  Type B

  • Explore happily but frequently go back to their caregiver
  • Moderate seperation distress & stranger anxiety
  • Require & accept comfort from the caregiver in the renunion stage
• What is the insecure-avoidant attachment type?

  Type A

  • Explore freely but do not seek proximity from their caregiver
  • No reaction when caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety
  • Little effort to make contact on renunion
• What is the insecure-resistant attachment type?

  Type C

  • Explore less and seek the most proximity to their caregiver
  • Show high levels of stranger and seperation anxiety
  • Resist comfort from primary caregiver on renunion
• How does Ainsworth's strange situation have good predictive validity? (Strength)

  Research shows that type B babies tend to have better outcomes than others

  • Better health in adulthood
  • Better achievement in school

  This suggests that the strange situation measures meaningful things in a childs development
• How does Ainsworth's strange situation have good inter-relater reliability?

  • Bick et al. found agreements on 94% of the cases in Ainsworth's strange situation

  This means that the strange situation does not depend on subject arguments as it has been replicated by other psychologists
• How may the strange situation be culture-bound? (Limitation)

  • The experiment was developed in England and the USA - other cultures may have different experiences

  Eg. Takahashi found that babies in Japan had high levels of seperation anxiety & many were insecure-resistant and this was due to the unusual culture of mother-baby seperation in Japan