Ainsworth's Strange Situation

• Study Aim


  identify different attachment types and quality of attachments by observing key attachment behaviours

  
  

  controlled observation procedure to measure security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver.

  behaviours include: proximity seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, response to reunions, stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
• Study Procedure

  beginning: child + caregiver enter an unfamiliar playroom

  1. child is encouraged to explore (exploration + secure base)

  2. stranger comes in and tries to interact with child (stranger anxiety)

  3. caregiver leaves the room (separation + stranger anxiety)

  4. caregiver returns and stranger leaves (reunion behaviour + exploration/secure base)

  5. caregiver leaves child alone (separation anxiety)

  6. stranger returns (stranger anxiety)

  7. caregiver returns and is reunited with child (reunion behaviour)
• Study findings


  3 type of attachment:

  Secure attachment

  Insecure avoidant attachment

  Insecure resistant attachment
• Secure attachment


  most desirable type

  infant shows moderate level of stranger anxiety + separation levels

  securely attached babies play happily + use caregiver as a secure base

  infants require + accept comfort from caregiver in reunion stage

  60-75% of British babies are classified as secure
• Insecure avoidant attachment


  shown by low anxiety but weak attachment

  babies explore freely but don't seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour

  show little/no reaction when caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety

  make little effort to make contact when caregiver returns and may avoid such comfort

  20-25% of British babies are classified as insecure-avoidant
• Insecure resistant attachment


  characterised by strong attachment + intense anxiety

  babies seek greater proximity than others so explore less

  show high levels of stranger + separation distress but resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver

  infant tends to ignore stranger and resists stranger's attempts to interact + provide comfort

  3% of British babies are classified as insecure resistant
• Weakness - SS lacks ecological validity

  Ainsworth and Bell had strict control over events that occurred in controlled observation and its extraneous variables

  e.g. SS eradicated extraneous variables such as distractions or other people present in room.

  presence of a TV or other people in the room may result in different behaviour being displayed by infant

  findings gathered from artificial environment can't be generalised to real-life situations.

  Weakens credibility of findings about individual differences in attachment
• Weakness - test may be culture bound

  SS was developed in Britain and USA so may be culture bound

  One reason - babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to SS

  Takahashi's study, babies showed high level of separation anxiety so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure-resistant - Takahashi suggests response wasn't due to high rates of attachment insecurity but unusual nature of experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is rare.

  Weakness - makes it difficult to know what SS is measuring when used outside Western Europe + USA -> lacks cross-cultural validity
• Strength - shows good reliability

  Bick et la tested inter-rate reliability for SS for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases

  high level of reliability may be due to procedure takes place under controlled conditions and behaviours involve large movements therefore easy to observe.

  e.g. anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers.

  Strength - can be confident that attachment type as assessed by SS doesn't depend on subjective judgements
• Weakness - low in internal validity

  Main and Weston found children behave differently depending on which parent they were with.

  issue - may be that the infant may be securely attached to their mothers, but insecurely attached to their fathers

  SS, may not be measuring what it intends to measure, may be measuring the quality of relationship with a particular carer, thus reducing its credibility of SS as a measure of individual difference in attachment