Ainsworth’s “strange situation”

• What 5 things were they assessing in the “strange situation”?

  Proximity seeking, exploration and secure base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and response to reunion.
• What does proximity seeking mean?

  An infant with good attachment will stay close to the caregiver
• What does exploration and secure base behaviour mean?

  Good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore.
• What does stranger anxiety mean?

  A sign of attachment is to show anxiety when a stranger approaches
• What does separation anxiety mean?

  A sign of attachment is to protest at separation from caregiver
• What does response to reunion mean?

  how the child reacts upon being reunited with caregiver.
• What were the findings of Ainsworth’s “strange situation”?

  Children explored the room more enthusiastically with mother present than absent.

  Reunions with the mother indicates 3 types of attachment:

  Type A – Insecure-Avoidant

  Type B – Securely Attached

  Type C – Insecure-Resistant
• How do secure attachment infants feel?

  ‘I trust you’
• How do insecure-resistant infants feel?

  ‘I don’t trust you’
• How do insecure-avoidant attachment infants feel?

  ‘I don’t care!
• Secure: exploring/orientation towards mother

  Explore unfamiliar room with an orientation towards mother
• secure: behaviour when mother leaves?


  some discomfort
• Secure: stranger anxiety?

  Comfortable with stranger when mother is present.
• Secure: behaviour when mother returns?


  Greeted her positively.
• Secure: behaviour of mother?


  Sensitive and supportive.
• Insecure-avoidant: exploring/orientation towards mother?


  No orientation to mother while exploring room.
• Insecure-avoidant: behaviour when mother leaves?


  Unconcerned with her absence.
• Insecure-avoidant: stranger anxiety?


  Comfortable with stranger.
• How did insecure-avoidant (Type A) infants react?

  These infants ignored their mothers and her presence/absence didn’t affect their play. They did not return to her at any intervals. They explored freely

  Infants reacted to the stranger and mother in a similar way – with little stranger anxiety and little separation anxiety shown.

  Infants displayed little stress when she left and ignored her when she returned. No response to reunion
• How many infants were insecure-avoidant (type A)?


  15%
• how did securely attached (type B) infants react?

  • These infants played contently with their mother present (it didn’t matter if the stranger was present). They would return to her periodically during their play. Good exploration and secure base
  • Mother and stranger were treated differently with moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety.
  • During the reunions, they sought comfort from her and then continued to play.
• What percentage of infants were securely attached (type B)?


  70%
• How did insecure-resistant (type C) infants react?

  • 15% of infants were fussy and wary even with the mother present.
  • They explored less and stayed by their mother. They showed huge stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
  • They were distressed by her leaving and sought contact on her return but simultaneously would show anger and fight her contact. (Reunion behaviour)
  • E.G would put their arms out to be picked up and then fight to be put down again
• What percentage of infants were insecure-resistant (type C)?

  15%
• Strength of Ainsworth's "strange situation"

  Good predictive validity
• The strange situation has been shown to have good predictive validity as its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby's later development
• Outcomes predicted by the strange situation

  • Infants with insecure-resistant attachment associated with worst outcomes including bullying in later childhood
  • Infants with secure attachment had better outcomes including better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying
  • Infants with insecure-resistant had adult mental health problems
• This is evidence for the validity of the concept as it can explain subsequent outcomes for infants with different types of attachment
• The Strange Situation clearly measures something important that is associated with later development


  Not all psychologists believe this something is attachment
• Kagan's counterpoint


  Genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour in the strange situation and later development
• This means that the Strange Situation may not actually measure attachment
• Ainsworth's "strange situation"

  Good predictive validity
• The strange situation has been shown to have good predictive validity as its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby's later development
• Outcomes predicted by the strange situation

  • Infants with insecure-resistant attachment associated with worst outcomes including bullying in later childhood
  • Infants with secure attachment had better outcomes including better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying
  • Infants with insecure-resistant had adult mental health problems
• This is evidence for the validity of the concept as it can explain subsequent outcomes for infants with different types of attachment
• What is a counterpoint for the strange situation?

  • However The Strange Situation clearly measures something important that is associated with later development.
  • Not all psychologists believe this something is attachment. Kagan (1982) suggested that genetically- influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour in the strange situation and later development.
  • This means that the Strange Situation may not actually measure attachment
• What is a limitation of the strange situation - lacks population validity?


  • P)A problem of the study is that it lacks of population validity.
  • (E)The original study used American infants. The study tells us about how this particular group behaves and cannot be generalised to the wider population and other cultures.
  • Takashi repeated the strange situation on Japanese infants – Japanese infants are never separated from their mothers and became so distressed that the experiment was stopped.
  • (T) so the strange situation is an unfair representation of their attachment types.
• What is a counterpoint for the strange situation (strength)?

  However one strength of the study is that it is easy to replicate. This is because it follows a standardised procedure involving the 7 episodes of the mother and stranger entering the leaving the room.
• Strange Situation


  Good inter-rater reliability
• Bick et al (2012) tested inter-rater reliability for the Strange Situation for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of the cases