Strange Situation

• What is the Strange Situation?

  A method designed to measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver
• Who did Ainsworth study?

  106 middle-class American infants, aged from 9 to 18 months
• What methodology did Ainsworth use?

  Controlled observation
• How did Ainsworth observe the infants?

  Through a one-way mirror during a set of eight different scenarios
• How long did each scenario last?

  Approximately three minutes
• What behaviours were observed?

  •Separation anxiety

  •Reunion behaviour

  •Safe-base behaviour

  •Stranger anxiety
• What is the first episode?

  Mother & infant introduced to room
• What is the second episode?


  Mother & infant alone
• What is the third episode?

  Stranger joins
• What is the fourth episode?


  Mother leaves
• What is the fifth episode?


  Mother returns, stranger leaves
• What is the sixth episode?


  Mother leaves, infant alone
• What is the seventh episode?

  Stranger returns
• What is the eighth episode?

  caregiver returns
• What percentage of infants are judged as secure?

  60-75%
• What percentage of infants are judged as insecure-avoidant?

  20-25%
• What percentage of infants are judged as insecure-resistant?

  3%
• What is the separation anxiety of secure infants?

  Moderate
• What is the stranger anxiety of secure infants?

  Moderate
• What is the reunion behaviour of secure infants?

  Require & accept comfort during reunion
• What is the secure base behaviour of secure infants?


  Use mother as a secure base
• What is the separation anxiety of insecure-avoidant infants?

  Low
• What is the stranger anxiety of insecure-avoidant infants?

  Low
• What is the reunion behaviour of insecure-avoidant infants?


  Require no comfort during reunion
• What is the secure base behaviour of insecure-avoidant infants?


  Explore freely but no secure base behaviour
• What is the separation anxiety of insecure-resistant infants?

  High
• What is the stranger anxiety of insecure-resistant infants?

  High
• What is the reunion behaviour of insecure-resistant infants?

  Require & reject comfort during reunion
• What is the secure base behaviour of insecure-resistant infants?


  Explore less
• What creates securely attached infants?

  Sensitive mothers
• What creates insecurely attached infants?

  Insensitive mothers
• How was the strange situation able to have high reliability?

  The observations took place under strict and controlled methods (including video recording) using predetermined behavioural categories.
• How did Ainsworth measure reliability?

  Ainsworth has several observers watching and coding the same infant behaviours, agreement on attachment classifications could be ensured.
• What interobserver reliability did Ainsworth find?

  94% agreement between observers
• Why is high reliability a strength?

  When reliability is high, this strengthens the validity.
• What findings show that Ainsworth's attachment type have predictive validity?

  Babies assessed as have the best quality friendships (Kerns, 1994) and in adulthood describe their love experiences as happy, friendly and trusting (Hazan and Shaver, 1987)
• What did Main and Solomon (1986) do?

  They analysed several hundred strange situation episodes via videotape
• What did Main and Solomon (1986) find?


  A fourth type: Type D: insecure-disorganised
• What is Type D: insecure-disorganised?

  Inconsistent patterns of behaviour
• Where does support for Main and Solomon (1986) come from?

  A meta-analysis of studies from the US conducted by Van Ijzendoorn et al. (1999)