‘Strange Situation’

• Ainsworth- Strange Situation (1970):

  • Structured observation of 8 different situations involving a mother, infant and stranger which is used to measure the infant's type of attachment
  • 1= Mother and infant enter playroom, 2= Infant encouraged to explore, 3= Stranger enters and interacts with infant, 4= Mother leaves while stranger is present, 5= Mother enters and stranger leaves, 6= Mother leaves and infant is alone, 7= Stranger returns, 8= Mother returns and interacts with infant
• Ainsworth and Bell (1970) used 4 criteria to classify 100 middle-class American infants into 1/3 categories, after observing them through a one-way mirror and their responses to the 8 situations.
• 4 criteria used to classify the attachment types:

  • Separation anxiety
  • Stranger anxiety
  • Reunion behaviour
  • Willingness to explore the playroom
• 3 attachment types based on infants responses:

  • Secure= 70%
  • Insecure-avoidant= 15%
  • Insecure-resistant= 15%

  Most American children have a secure attachment, highlighting the importance of the mothers behaviour in the infants quality of attachment.
• Evaluation of Ainsworth's Strange Situation:

  • Reliable- has high inter-observer reliability because research is operationalised, making it replicable
  • Supportive evidence from a replication of the Strange Situation using 50 infants at 12 months then again at 18 months. Results showed consistency in the behaviour shown which was used to classify attachments, so the procedure is replicable and therefore reliable
  • Low population validity- results are not representative of the wider populations, can't be generalised
  • Cultural bias- criteria used to classify the infants are based on American values
• Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg(1988):

  • Meta-analysis of 32 Strange Situation studies from 8 different countries.
  • Average findings were consistent with the original study from Ainsworth- making his study replicable with reliable results.
  • 6/8 countries had proportional findings to Ainsworth's original study.
  • Japan and Israel had more resistant children than avoidant children.
  • China had the lowest rate of secure attachments (50%)
• Evaluation of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg:

  • Uses Strange Situation as a procedure- standardised, so comparison can be made across cultures with high reliability
  • Low population validity- although it has more pop validity than Ainsworth, not representative of non-Western society
• Takahashi (1990):

  • Replicated Strange Situation with 60 Japanese infants and mothers to show cultural differences.
  • 0% insecure-avoidant- infants were severely distressed in the step where they were alone (90% of this step had to be stopped).
  • 32% insecure-resistant, 68% secure.
• Evaluation of Takahashi:

  • Could be seen as unethical- interrupted the daily lives of the infants, causing distress