ainsworths strange situation

• building the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth identified a range of shared behaviours that indicated attachment strength.
• These behaviours of attachment strength are- proximity to the mother, exploration/safe base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response, and the sensitive responsiveness of the mother to the infant's needs. Using these behaviours, Ainsworth categorised infants into three attachment types.
• one behaviour was using the mother as a secure base, for exploration, frequently returning to her,
• other behaviours infants displayed included showing stranger anxiety
• insecure avoidant, infants keep a distance from their mother, not using her as a secure base, but exploring freely, the infant displays low stranger anxiety, if their mothers leave the room, they have low separation anxiety as well. when mum returns, they are indifferent, their mothers tend to show little sensitive responsiveness to their infants needs
• Secure- infants use their mother as a secure base as they explore their environment, they show a moderate level of stranger anxiety, and when separated from mum, they show separation anxiety, but a happy reunion response allows them to settle quickly back to exploration. Caregivers show sensitive responsiveness
• insecure resistant- infants do not explore the environment and are clingy, seeking closeness to their mum, they have high stranger and separation anxiety; when their mothers return, the infants appear ambivalent, with mixed emotions, seeming to both crave and reject her attention, mothers appear to be inconsistent with their sensitive responsiveness
• procedure- 106 infants and mother pairs, conducted in controlled lab setting, each stage lasted 3 minutes, two observers behind a one way mirror recorded infants' responses at each stage. the stages assessed the infant's proximity to their mother, willingness to explore, use of their mother as a secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response, and the sensitive responsiveness of the mother to the infant's needs
• episode 1- observer introduces mother and baby to the experimental room then leaves.
• episode 2- the baby explores freely, the mother does not interact
• episode 3- stranger enters, stranger silent, second minute- stranger talks to the mother, third min- stranger approaches baby
• episode 4- first separation episode- stranger interacts with the baby
• episode 5- first reunion episode, mother greets and or comforts baby, then tries to settle him again in play, mother then leaves- saying 'bye bye'
• episode 6- second separation episode. The baby is alone
• episode 8- second reunion episode- mother enters and stranger leaves.
• ainsworth's findings provided evidence for three distinct attachment types that seemed to correlate with the level of sensitive responsiveness shown by the mother
• 66% of infants were classified as secure,
• 34% of infants were classified as insecure, including (22% insecure avoidant with low sensitive responsiveness, and 12% insecure-resistant with inconsistent sensitive responsiveness
• takahashi- cultural variation- found that while the majority of japanese infants at 68% were securely attached, a high proportion (32%) were insecure-resistant, and none were insecure-avoidant