Ainsworth's Strange Situation

• Ainsworth's strange attachment procedure was a controlled observation that involved observing 5 behaviours in 7 steps between a caregiver and their child. The 5 behaviours were:

  1. Proximity seeking- do they stay close to their mother
  2. Reunion reaction- pleased/displeased?
  3. Exploration and secure base behaviour- do they explore/use their caregiver as secure base
  4. Separation anxiety
  5. Stranger anxiety
• The seven steps of Ainsworth's strange situation were-

  1. baby is encouraged to explore- tests exploration
  2. stranger talks to CG and approaches B- tests Sep. anx
  3. caregiver leaves B and stranger- tests sep. and stra. anx
  4. caregiver returns and stranger leaves- tests reunion
  5. caregiver leaves B alone- tests sep. anx
  6. stranger returns- tests stra. anx
  7. caregiver returns- tests reunion
• Ainsworth found 3 types of attachment: secure, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant.

  • Secure (Type B)66% British babies. Explores environment but returns often to caregiver, moderate anxiety, easily calmed at reunion.
  • Insecure–avoidant (Type A)22% British babies. Explores freely but little contact with caregiver, low anxiety, ignores or avoids contact at reunion.
  • Insecure–resistant (Type C)12% British babies. Little exploration, high anxiety, resists contact at reunion.
• one strength of Ainsworth's strange situation is it has good reliability. This is because the procedure was standardised. They made sure the behaviours were clearly distinguished before the experiment. It also has high inter-rater reliability, as found by Bick et al- 94% of observers agreed on attachment types.
• One criticism of Ainsworth's strange situation is that temperament could be a cofounding variable as found by Kargan (1982). The main component of the SS is testing children's anxiety. Some children may just naturally be anxious and may not reflect their attachment
• another limitation of Ainsworth's study is that Main and Cassidy found a 4th attachment- disorganised, which included a confused and indecisive child who showed obvious signs if stress. this questions the validity if Ainsworth's research as some behaviour may have been misinterpreted.