Ainsworth's strange situation / types of attachment

• What is Aimsworth's Strange Situation?

  • Mary Ainsworth developed a method to assess the strength and quality of attachments between caregivers and infants.
  • It took place in a room with toys (for the child to play with) and a two-way mirror (so the observers could watch and film it).
  • Behaviours were recorded every 15 seconds using 5 behaviour categories and rated on intensity from 1 to 7.
  • It was a controlled, covert, non-participant observation on 106 middle-class infants from America.
• What are the 5 key behaviours assessed in the Strange Situation?

  • Proximity-seeking (PS)
  • Exploration and secure-base behaviour (SBB)
  • Stranger anxiety (STA)
  • Separation anxiety (SEA)
  • Reunion behaviour (RB)
• What does Proximity-seeking mean?

  Being close to a caregiver
• What does Exploration and secure-base behaviour mean?

  Exploring but remaining conscious of the caregiver
• What does Stranger anxiety mean?

  Being distressed when a stranger is present
• What does Stranger anxiety mean?

  Being distressed when the caregiver leaves
• What does Reunion behaviour mean?

  How the infant acts when the caregiver returns
• The stages of the strange situation

  
• What are the results of this experiment allowed Ainsworth to establish 3 different attachment types?

  • Type A - insecure avoidant (22% of infants in this category)
  • High exploration, low STA, indifferent SEA, avoids contact when reunited with caregiver.
  • Type B – secure (66% of infants in this category)
  • High exploration, moderate STA and SEA, enthusiastic when reunited with the caregiver.
  • Type C – insecure resistant (12% of infants in this category)
  • Low exploration, high STA and SEA, seeks caregiver and then rejects them when reunited.
• What is a strength of Aimsworth's strange situation?

  Very good inter-rater reliability

  • Observers agreed with the results (because the observation is controlled, and the categories are easy to observe) = high validity.
• What is a the counter argument for 'very good inter-rater reliability' of Aimsworth's strange situation?


  • Controlled observation – not in their natural environment so behaviour may be different = invalid results.
  • Overt observation – mothers are aware they’re being observed, so may act differently to make their child seem ‘better behaved’ = invalid results.
• What is a strength of Aimsworth's strange situation?

  Real-life application - strongly predicative of later development

  • Babies who are classed as ‘secure’ have better outcomes in many areas of life (e.g. success at school or romantic relationships)
  • Insecurely attached children are more likely to be bullied
• What is a limitation of Aimsworth's strange situation?

  Culture bound

  • Children from different culture behave differently
  • Takashi (1990) noted the test doesn’t work in Japan (Japanese children are rarely separated from their mother) so it's natural for them to have high levels of SEA = hard to observe.