Strange Situation

• Ainsworth developed the strange situation to measure the quality of attachment with the child's primary caregiver. It consists of 8 episodes. It involves introducing a child and their mother to a room and then a series of episodes to test attachment behaviours. The researchers observe behaviours via video or a one way mirror.
• The episodes measure exploration behaviour, reunion behaviour, separation anxiety and stranger anxiety.

  Used on children aged 12-18 months.
• 3 types of attachment

  A - insecure/avoidant

  Can explore but does not use the mother as a safe base. Unconcerned with mother's absence. Respond the same to mother + stranger. Uninterested when mother returns.

  B - secure

  Use mother as a safe base and explores. If a parent leaves, will show moderate separation distress , stranger anxiety and is comforted on reunion

  C - insecure/resistant

  Seeks greater proximity so explores less than other types, intense separation distress, ambivalent when mother returns and initially comforted, BUT then rejects. Intense stranger anxiety.
• A03

  A structured observation can be replicated more easily than a naturalistic as it has a set of stages and controls. The procedure is high in reliability. This is because the procedure was controlled and standardised.

  • has high inter rater reliability as it takes place under controlled conditions
  • behaviour observed involved straightforward movements which is objective to classify
  • trained observers found agreement in attachment classifications, 95% of the time
• A03

  But the children were not in their natural environment and so it is possible that the separation anxiety displayed was as a result of the situation and not actually their behaviour. The strange situation is a strange artificial and unfamiliar environment to the child.
• A03

  The results from this procedure cannot universally be applied across all cultures. When used in other countries such as Japan, some of these judgements may not be accurate.

  In Japan there are some children who are raised very closely to their parents and when in the strange situation, these children will react with intense feelings of anxiety which would lead them to being classed as C. This happened in 27% of Vanijzendoorn and Kroonberg's meta analysis..

  Likely that many of these children are securely attached. Thus researchers must be careful when using the strange situation in other countries as it could lead to ethnocentric judgements.
• A03

  The classification made in the original studies may be too narrow. Main and Solomon identified a fourth attachment type known as disorganised. This is a mixture of avoidant and anxious behaviours.

  Type D babies may have experienced some sort of neglect or abuse in their childhood which will mean they may go on to develop some form of psychological disorder as adults.

  A disorganised attachment type is characterised by fear of both the environment and the attachment figure. When afraid of environment, they seek their attachment figure, but at the same tie, they want to avoid them because they are afraid of them. This type is linked to hostile caregiving.
• A03

  A strength of the strange situation is that it is able to predict the future outcomes of children's development.

  Research shows that type B tend to have better outcomes (e.g. more achievement in school and less involvement in bullying)

  Thus ssp has value as it measures something important in the infants development.