Strange Situation

• Anisworth et al (1971, 1978) - the strange situation

  • devised the strange situation to test the nature of attachment
  • wanted to see how infants behaved under conditions of mild stress and novelty
• procedure

  • consists of 8 episodes, each designed to show certain beahviours
  • the caregiver and the stranger alternatively stay with the infant or leave
  • this enables observations of the infants's response to separation from the caregiver (separation anxiety), reunion with the caregiver (reunion behaviour), response to a stranger (stranger anxiety) and the novel environment (test base concept)
  • data was collected by a group of observers through a camera or one way mirror
  • it followed the infant's actions through proximity and contact seeking behaviours, contact maintaining behaviours, proximity and interaction avoiding behaviours, and contact and proximity resisting behaviours
  • each item was scored on intensity from a scale of 1-10
• findings

  • combined data from several studies to make a total of 160 middle-class infants observed
  • exploratory behaviour declined from episode 2 onwards, whereas the amount of crying increased
  • there were 3 main patters of behaviour observed, which added up to 3 qualitatively different types of attachment
• secure attachment

  • those who have harmonious and cooperative interactions with their caregivers
  • likely not to cry in the caregiver leaves the room and shows some distress when left with a stranger
  • when feeling distress, seek bodily contact with their caregiver and are easily soothed, but may be reluctant to leave their parent's side prematurely
  • they seek and are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy
  • use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore and are able to function independently
• insecure avoident

  • avoid social interaction and intimacy, show little response to separation and do not seek proximity of their caregiver at reunion
  • when picked up, show little tendency to cling or resist being put down
  • happy to explore with or without presence of their caregivers
  • high levels or anxiety
• insecure resistant

  • seeks and resists intimacy and social interaction
  • respond to separation from their caregiver with immediate and intense distress and behave similarly towards strangers
  • on reunion children display conflicting desires dor an against contact, they may angrily resist being picked up while also trying to maintain proximity
• evaluation

  • lacks ecological validity - controlled, artificial setting which was unfamiliar, causing the children to potentially act unnaturally
  • overt observations - parents knew they were being observed so may have displayed demand characteristics, low internal validity
  • high reliability - observations took place under strict and controlled methods, using predetermined behavioural categories - 94% agreement between observers
  • incomplete classification - Main and Solomon (1986) analysed hundreds of strange situation tapes and suggested that Ainsworth overlooked a 4th attachment type - type D insecure disorganised