Ainsworth's SS

• Summarise the procedure for Mary Ainsworth's strange situation

  -controlled, covert, non-participant observation

  -used a two-way mirror to observe c-i interactions 7 stages

  -used behavioural categories and event sampling to calculate attachment type
• What were the 7 stages for Ainsworth's Strange Situation?

  1)baby encouraged to explore unfamiliar setting

  2) Stranger enters

  3) Caregiver leaves

  4) Caregiver returns, stranger leaves

  5) Caregiver leaves

  6) Stranger returns

  7) Caregiver returns and stranger leaves
• What behaviours did the researchers used to measure attachment in the strange situation?

  proximity seeking

  exploration and secure-base behaviour

  stranger anxiety

  separation anxiety

  response to reunion
• What are the 3 types of attachment?

  1)Secure (75% UK)

  2) Insecure-avoidant (20% UK)

  3) Insecure-resistant (3% UK)
• Explain Secure attachment

  -explore happily

  -use caregiver as base

  -moderate seperation/stranger anxiety

  -accept and are comforted in reunion
• Explain insecure-avoidant attachment

  -explore freely

  -no proximity seeking/base little/no stranger or separation anxiety make little/no effort to contact caregiver upon return
• Explain insecure resistant attachment

  -less exploration and more proximity seeking

  -high levels of stranger/separation anxiety

  -resist comfort when reunited and cannot be comforted
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation:

  • Good predictive validity: babies securely attached tend to have more successful achievement in school, better mental health, and peer relationships
  • Good inter-rater reliability: in 94% of cases, researchers could agree on classified attachment type due to the controlled environment of the study
  • Test may be culture-bound: developed based on western norms and values, potentially not relevant or applicable to other cultures, making it ethnocentric
  • Some researchers like Kagan et al suggest that anxious dispositions due to genetic factors may influence how babies decide their attachment type