Types of attachment

• who development the strange situation

  Ainsworth and Bell (1970).
• the aim of the strange situation

  to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing quality of a baby's attachment to a caregiver.
• procedure


  controller observation designed to measure security of attachment a baby displays towards a caregiver.

  takes places in room with controlled conditions - a laboratory

  with a two way mirror and/or cameras to observe the baby's behaviour.
• the behaviours used to judge attachment -

  proximity seeking

  exploration and secure base behaviour

  stranger anxiety

  separation anxiety

  response to reunion
• how many episodes does the procedure have and how long are they

  has seven episodes that last three minutes each.
• baby is encouraged to explore - this tests

  tests exploration and secure base behaviour
• stranger comes in talks to caregiver and approaches baby -

  tests stranger anxiety
• caregiver leaves baby and stranger together -

  tests separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
• caregiver returns and stranger leaves

  tests reunion behaviour

  and exploration and/or secure base behaviour
• caregiver leaves baby alone

  tests separation anxiety
• stranger returns

  tests stranger anxiety
• caregiver return and is reunited with the baby

  tests reunion behaviour.
• Ainsworth findings - the three types of attachment -

  secure attachment - type B

  
  

  insecure-avoidant attachment - type A

  
  

  insecure-resistant attachment - type C
• secure attachment - 60-75% of british babies -

  these babies explore happily

  but regularly go back to their caregiver - proximity seeking and secure base behaviour

  show moderate separation distress

  and moderate stranger anxiety

  require and accept comfort from caregiver in reunion stage
• insecure-avoidant attachment - twenty to twenty five percent of babies -

  these babies explore freely

  but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour

  show little or no reaction when caregiver leaves

  and little stranger anxiety

  make little effort to make contact when caregiver returns and may avoid such contact.
• insecure-resistant attachment - three percent of british babies -

  these babies seek greater proximity than others

  and so explore less

  show high levels of stranger and separation distress and/pr anxiety

  but resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver.
• strength of strange situation - has good predictive validity -

  P - its outcome predicts a number of aspects of a babies later development.

  E - research that shows that babies and toddlers assessed as secure type b tend to have better outcomes than others in later childhood, better achievement at school and a less involvement in bullying, and adulthood, have better mental health.

  E - insecure resistant babies tend to have the worst outcomes.

  L - the strange situation measured something real and meaningful in a babies development.
• strength - good inter-rater reliability -

  P - has good inter-rater reliability - the agreement between different observers.

  E - Bick et al (2012) tested inter-rarer reliability for strange situation - with trainee observers - found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases

  E - the high level of reliability - bc procedure takes place under controlled conditions, and behaviours, proximity seeking and stranger anxiety, involve large moments and are easier to observe, such as anxious babies crying and crawling away from strangers.

  L - thag we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by strange situation does not drown in subjective judgements.
• limitation - the strange situation may be culture-bound -

  P - the strange situation may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts.

  E - was developed in britain and the USA - may be culture bound - culture bias - only valid for use in certain cultures.

  E - is because babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the strange situation

  E - japanese study - Takahashi (1986) - babies displayed high levels of separation anxiety so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure resistant - suggests this anxiety response not due to high attachment insecurity but in japan, mother baby separation is very rare.

  L - means that it is very difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring when used outside Europe and the USA.