Types of attachement

• who developed the strange situation?

  Mary Ainsworth
• what was Ainsworth aim of the Strange Situation?

  to be able to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a baby's attachment to a caregiver
• Procedure of SS:

  • Controlled observation designed to measure a baby's security of attachment towards its caregiver
  • controlled conditions with a two way mirror so psychologists could observe the behaviour
• what was the behaviours used to judge the type of attachment?

  • proximity seeking
  • exploration and secure base behaviour
  • stranger and separation anxiety
  • response to reunion
• what were the seven episodes ?

  each lasted 3 minutes:

  1. care giver + baby enter unfamiliar playroom
  2. baby encouraged to explore
  3. stranger talks to caregiver + approaches baby
  4. caregiver leaves baby and stranger
  5. caregiver returns and stranger leaves
  6. caregiver leaves baby alone
  7. stranger returns
  8. caregiver returns and reunites
• what were the 3 main types of attachment Ainsworth found?

  secure , insecure - avoidant and insecure resistant
• what was secure attachment ?

  • Type B
  • 6- 75% British babies
  • explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver
  • moderate stranger and separation anxiety
  • require and accept comfort at reunion
• what was insecure - avoidant attachment ?

  • Type A
  • 20 - 25% of British babies
  • explore freely but do not seek proximity
  • show little to no reaction when caregiver leaves + little stranger anxiety
  • make little contact to caregiver during reunion
• what is insecure - resistant attachment ?

  • Type C
  • 3% British babies
  • seek greater proximity than others + do not explore freely
  • high level of stranger + separation anxiety
  • resist comfort during reunion
• Strength : SS

  P = high inter-rater reliability

  E = Different observers watching the same children in the SS agree on what attachment type to classify them with = may be bc the strange situation takes conducted in controlled conditions + behavioural categories are easy to observe.

  E = cs = a researcher looked at inter-rater reliability in a team of trained strange situation observers + found agreement on attachment type for 94% of the tested babies

  L = we can be confident that the attachment type of infants identified in the SS does not just depend on who’s observing
• Limitation:SS

  P= is culturally bound = not valid measure

  E=created by an American psychologist, Ainsworth + based on findings of British babies

  E = may not be an appropriate tool to measure attachment in children from other cultures. e.g Japanese children are not used to being separated from their caregiver and will be distressed; = them being class as insecure-resistant which may be incorrect = could be argued that this is offensive bc normally a secure attachment is the one that = healthy outcomes. 

  L = difficult to use SS to measure attachment when used outside Western Europe + USA
• Limitation:SS

  P= could be argued it is unethical bc the infants may be psychologically harmed

  E = 20% of children cried desperately at one point when separated from their mother's

  E = could cause long term emotional damage to the child = important to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to assess whether the ethical costs are smaller than the benefits of an improved knowledge within attachment

  L = ethical issues may detract the morality of study