Types of attachment:

• What was Ainsworth's strange situation procedure?

  • controlled observation in a laboratory setting with a two way mirror
  • behaviours used to judge attachment included:

  1. proximity-seeking
  2. Exploration and secure-base behaviour
  3. Stranger anxiety
  4. Separation anxiety
  5. Response to reunion
• Ainsworth's procedure continued: (every 3 mins)

  1. Baby encouraged to explore room - Test exploration and secure base
  2. Stranger comes in, talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby - tests stranger anxiety
  3. Caregiver leaves stranger and baby together - tests separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
  4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves - tests reunion and exploration/secure base
  5. The caregiver leaves the baby - tests separation anxiety
  6. The stranger returns - tests stranger anxiety
  7. The caregiver returns and is re-united with the baby - tests reunion behaviour
• Type B attachment:

  • Secure attachment (type b)
  • Explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver (proximity seeking and secure-base behaviour)
  • Usually show moderate separation distress and moderate stranger anxiety
  • Securely attached babies require and accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage
  • 60-75% of British babies are classified as secure
• Type A attachment:

  • Insecure avoidant attachment (type a)
  • Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour
  • Show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety
  • Make little effort to make contact when the caregiver returns and may even avoid contact
  • 20-25% of british babies are classified as insecure-avoidant
• Type c attachment:

  • Insecure resistant (type c)
  • Seek greater proximity than others so explore less
  • Show high levels of stranger and separation anxiety
  • They resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver
  • 3% of British babies are classified as insecure-resistant
• Predictive validity - strength

  P - One strength of the Strange situation is that its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby's later development

  E - A large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as Type B (secure) tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and in adulthood.

  E - Ward et al found securely attached babies also tend to go on to have better mental health in adulthood. Those babies assessed as having insecure-resistant attachment and those not falling into types A, B or C tend to have the worst outcomes

  L - This suggests that the Strange Situation measures something real and meaningful in a baby's development.
• Strength - good reliability

  P - A further strength of the Strange situation is good inter-rater reliability

  E - Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for the stranger situation for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases

  E - This may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours (such as proximity-seeking and stranger anxiety) involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe

  L - This means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the strange situation does not depend on subjective judgements.
• Limitation - culture bound

  P - One limitation of the strange situation is that it may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts

  E - The strange situation was developed in Britain and the US. It may be culture- bound, i.e. only valid for use in certain cultures

  E - Babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their response to the strange situation.

  L- This means that it is very difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring when used outside of Europe and the US