Strange situation

• Mary Ainsworth was a student of Bowlby who devised the Strange Situation to discover children’s attachment types.
• Babies tested were usually between 12 - 18 months old (nearing the end of the critical period).
• What Ainsworth wanted to test:

  • Separation anxiety
  • Stranger anxiety
  • Proximity seeking
• Type A

  Insecure anxious avoidant.
• Type B

  Securely attached.
• Type C

  Insecure anxious resistant.
• Ainsworth’s findings…

  Type A - 20%

  Type B - 70%

  Type C - 10%
• Ainsworth explanations for differing attachment:

  • Parental sensitivity
  • Infant temperament
  • Family circumstances
• Parental sensitivity - How in tune a mother is with her child’s needs.
• Infant temperament - Kagan suggests that innate differences in temperament make some babies harder to bond with than others.
• Family circumstances - Social, cultural and environmental factors.
• Fourth type of attachment proposed: Type D - Insecure disorganised. This its four children who show characteristics of more than one of the three major types.
• Ainsworth’s research is ethnocentric, and focuses on the Western ideals of rearing a child.
• Individualist cultures - Cultures that stress the needs of an individual over the needs of the group as a whole.
• Collectivist cultures - Those who emphasise the needs and goals of a group rather than the needs of individuals.
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

  Used the Strange Situation to compare results over 32 cross-cultural studies of attachment.
• China’s results

  • Secure - 50%
  • Avoidant - 25 %
  • Resistant - 25%
• West Germany’s results:

  • Secure - 57%
  • Avoidant - 35%
  • Resistant - 8%
• Japan‘s results:

  • Secure - 68%
  • Avoidant - 5 %
  • Resistant - 27%
• Isreal’s results:

  • Secure - 64%
  • Avoidant - 7%
  • Resistant - 29%
• Great Britain’s results:

  • Secure - 75%
  • Avoidant - 22%
  • Resistant - 3%
• Which country had the lowest % of secure attachment?

  China (5%)
• Which country had the highest % of secure attachment?

  Great Britain (75%)
• Which country had the highest % of insecure avoidant?

  West German (35%)
• Which country had the lowest % of insecure avoidant ?

  Japan (5%)
• Which country had the highest % of insecure resistant ?

  Isreal (29%)
• Which country had the lowest % of insecure resistant ?

  Great Britain (3%)
• Apart from research in the US which contained 18 studies, most other countries data is based on one study - not a representative sample.
• Discovered that variations within cultures was greater than variation between cultures.
• Useful as a diagnostic tool, as if symptoms are picked up early, the right kind of treatment can be given to the children.