types of attachment

• what was the strange situation?

  1. baby encouraged to explore- tests exploration and secure base
  2. stranger comes in and talks to caregiver and approaches baby- tests stranger anxiety 
  3. caregiver leaves baby and stranger together- tests separation and stranger anxiety 
  4. caregiver returns and stranger leaves - tests reunion behaviour and secure base 
  5. Caregiver leaves baby alone - tests separation anxiety 
  6. Stranger returns - tests stranger anxiety 
  7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with baby - tests reunion behaviour and secure base 
• • what are secure babies?
  • Securely attached babies (type b )- they explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver. They show moderate separation and stranger anxiety. They require and seek comfort at the reunion stage. 60-75% of british babies 
• what are insecure avoidant babies?

  • they explore freely but do not show secure base behaviour. They show little or no separation and stranger anxiety. They make little effort or avoid such comfort. 20-25% of british babies
• what are insecure resistant babies?

  • seek greater proximity and explore less. They show high levels of separation and stranger anxiety but resist comfort on reunion. 3% of british babies 
• what is a strength of strange situation?

  Research shows children assessed as type B have the better outcomes in life and have better mental healthThis show strange situation measures something meaningful 
• what did kagan suggest - ss?

  Kagan suggest genetically influenced anxiety levels could influence and account for variations in later development
• how is the SS reliable?

  Bick et al tested inter rater reliability for the strange situation for a team of trained observers and the agreed on attachment types 94% of the cases It takes place in a controlled setting and movements are easy to observe
• what is a limitation for SS?

  It was developed in britain and US Babies have different experiences in different cultures Takahashi in his study showed japanese babies were high in insecure resistant This was because not of insecurity but that mother and baby separation was rare Cannot use it to measure outside US and Britain