Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’

• describe insecure avoidant (Type A) attachment


  - infant displays low stranger anxiety, if their mother leaves the room they have low separation anxiety; when she returns they are indifferent to her

  - mothers seem to show little sensitive responsiveness to their infants needs
• describe secure (Type B) attachment


  - infants use their mother as a safe base as they explore their environment, show a moderate level of stranger anxiety

  - when separated from mum they show separation anxiety, but a happy reunion allows for them to settle quickly back into exploration

  - mothers show sensitive responsiveness
• describe insecure resistant (Type C) attachment


  - infants do not explore the environment and are clingy, seeking closeness to their mum with high stranger and separation anxiety

  - when other return, infants have mixed emotions;seeming to both crave and reject her attention

  - mothers appear to be inconsistent with their sensitive responsiveness
• Ainsworth, procedure

  - 106 infant and mother pairs participated in the original structured observations, conducted in a controlled lab setting (room with toys), each stage lasted 3 minutes

  - 2 observers behind a one-way mirror recorded infants' responses at each stage
• what did Ainsworth's stages assess?

  - infants proximity to mother

  - willingness to explore

  - use of their mother as a secure base

  - stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response

  - sensitive responsiveness of the mother to the infants needs
• Ainsworth, findings

  provided evidence for 3 distinct attachment types that seemed to correlate with mother's sensitive responsiveness

  - 66% classified as secure (Type B)

  - 22% insecure-avoidant (Type A), low sensitive responsiveness

  - 12% insecure-resistant (Type C), inconsistent sensitive responsiveness
• what does Ainsworth's research suggest?

  - a secure attachment develops due to the attention of a consistently sensitively responsive mother
• A03, Strange Situation

  - highly controlled, standardised procedures

  - lacks ecological validity

  - may be culturally-bound, requires an Imposed Etic when applying to other cultures