evaluation of strange situation

• culturally biased

  • can't be generalised due to lack of population validity (white american middle-class)
  • developed in one culture meaning a culture-bound test, so isn't valid when applied to other cultures
  • imposed etic = researchers assume their own cultrual standards apply to other cultures without considering cultural context

  for example, some cultures teach children to be more independent or have many caregivers, this means infant wouldn't show distress and as a result would be misinterpreted in the strange situation (signs of insecure attachment)
• high reliability

  • highly controlled observational research study with standardised procedures and clear behaviour categories
  • standardisation - allowed systematic and consistent approach to studying attachment, meaning can be replicated by other researchers to compared results across different groups
  • bick et al 2012- found inter rater reliability 94% (observer agree)
• categories are not always applicable

  • main and cassidy (1988) found a further classification group 'disorganised', suggests infants don't all fit into the three categories proposed by ainsworth
• real world application

  • understood that mothers need to be with their child to show sensitive responsiveness, which is essential for secure attachment
  • introduced maternity leave
• high internal validity

  • highly operationalised research meant observers have a clear view of how a securely attached infant should behave
  • replicable so reliability can be tested
  • predictive validity
• lacks ecological validity

  • lab, not a familiar environment like home
  • observation is overt for mother, as she knows her behaviour is being monitored. due to demand characteristics, she may show more sensitive responsiveness than usual
• ethics

  • unfamiliar environment and procedure, cruel, as will cause child to experience distress
  • ainsworth argues that the situations which occur in the research are no more distressing that what they would experience in everyday life
• problems with internal validity

  • only measures the attachment to mother
  • doesn't consider temperament or past experiences of the child (may be categorised as resistant if they are unwell)
  • demand characteristics from mother
• problems with external validity

  • artificial environment, so not reflective of natural, real life behaviour (ainsworth argues same as real life- babysitter or nursery)
  • sample is small and limited. lacked population validity, used 26 child-mother pairs from white middle class americans. the data is unrepresentable, so won't generalise to wider population
• application

  children in daycare may appear to be insecurely avoidant, because they are used to bring separated from their mother