ainsworth’s ‘strange situation’

• why is it referred to as the strange situation?

  highly controlled observation with a 2 way mirror through which psychologists can observe an infants behaviour
• what type of study is the strange situation?

  controlled observational as there is not a true independent variable
• what does the study look at?

  separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, reunion behaviour and exploration behaviour
• what are the details about the procedure?

  it lasted about 21 minutes and used 56 white middle class 18-21-month-old infants
• what does the procedure consist of?

  eight episodes, each designed to highlight certain behaviours
• how is the data typically collected?

  by a group of observers using a video recorder or one-way mirror
• what may the observers record?

  what the infant is doing every 15 seconds using behavioural categories
• what are the behavioural categories?

  proximity and contact-seeking behaviours, contact-maintaining behaviours, proximity and interaction-avoiding behaviours, contact and interaction-resisting behaviours, search behaviours
• how is each behavioural category scored?

  for intensity on a scale of 1 to 7
• what were the three attachment types found?

  secure, insecure avoidance, insecure resistant
• what is secure attachment?

  a strong and contented attachment of an infant to his or her caregiver, which develops as a result of sensitive responding by the caregiver to the infant’s needs. securely attached infants are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy. secure attachment is related to healthy subsequent cognitive and emotional development
• what is insecure avoidant attachment?


  a type of attachment which describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others. child explores freely but does not seek proximity
• what is insecure resistant attachment?


  a type of attachment which describes those infants who both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction
• a = indifferent

  b = distress

  c = resists contact

  d = wary

  e = children given a positive working model

  f = inattentive and insensitive

  
• what are the strengths of the strange situation?

  validity (main et al, melhuish) and reliability (bick)
• what did main et al (1985) do?

  kids assessed at 18 months and then re-assessed at 6 years. 100% of secure were still secure. 75% of avoidant were still avoidant
• what did melhuish (1993) do?

  found that when differences do occur, these are often associated with changes in the form of care e.g. separation of parents
• what did bick find?

  94% agreement on one team
• what is the counter of the strange situation?

  potential 4th attachment time (main and solomon)
• what did main and solomon (1986) do?

  identified insecure-disorganised attachment. this is a mix of avoidant and resistant behaviours. the behaviour is not always consistent
• what is the alternative of the strange situation?

  temperament may be responsible for the behaviour rather than the attachment type (rovine)
• what did rovine (1987) do?

  found a link between psychological factors and later attachment type: calmer and less anxious babies were likely to be more securely attached
• what are the issues and debates of the strange situation?

  gender and culture bias
• what is imposed etic?

  where a construct from one culture is applied inappropriately to another