Ainsworth's strange situation

• Ainsworth's strange situation (1970):

  • Mary Ainsworth designed a study called ‘the strange situation’ as a procedure to assess how securely attached a child was to its caregiver, and if it is insecurely attached, to assess which type of insecure attachment it has. This was a controlled observation conducted through a two way mirror.
• Types of attachment identified by Ainsworth:

  Secure - Infant showed some separation anxiety when their carer left the room but was easily soothed when they returned. A securely attached infant is able to play independently but used their their caregiver as a safe base to explore a new environment (accounts for usually 65% of children).

  This was the most common attachment type.
• Types of attachment identified by Ainsworth:

  Insecure resistant - Infant becomes distressed and tries to follow the caregiver when they leave, but upon return they switch from seeking and rejecting social interaction with them. They are less inclined to explore new environments (usually accounts for 3% of children).

  Least common attachment type.
• Types of attachment identified by Ainsworth:

  Insecure avoidant - Infant shows no anxiety when the carer leaves and stranger enters the room. They may show anger towards the carer and avoid them upon return. They are able to play and explore independently no matter who is present (accounts for 20% of children).
• Limitations of the strange situation:

  • Lacks internal validity - Only measured the relationship with one attachment figure (mother). This could mean the wrong attachment type for a child was identified (may not be securely attached with their mother, but may be with their father or extended family member). Study assumes that a child will always be the closest to their mother. Therefore, it lacks internal validity as it doesn't always correctly measure a child's attachment type with their primary carer.
• Limitation of the strange situation:

  • Ethical issues - 20% of children cried out desperately at one point. Large population of them could have experienced psychological harm, causing long term emotional damage to the child. Therefore, a cost-benefit analysis should have been conducted.
• Limitation of the strange situation:

  • Lacks population validity - Based on a western culture (carried out in America). Therefore it suffers from culture bias so we are less able to generalise the findings of the criteria to other cultures. This is the case due to individualist-collectivist divide between Western and Eastern cultures. This suggests findings are culture bound and lack ecological validity as it can only be generalised in the setting it was conducted.
• Limitations of the strange situation:

  • Lacks mundane realism - Conducted in a lab setting so all variables were extremely controlled. Despite this control, it is not representative of real life so it lacks mundane realism. However the high control allows it to be easily replicated, suggesting the findings to be statistically significant. This increased confidence that can be placed in the attachment classification of children assessed using the strange situation.
• Cultural variations in attachment:

  Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1998) conducted a meta-analysis of 2000 infants in 32 studies from 8 different countries.

  • Findings suggested that secure attachments were the most common and insecure resistant was the least.
  • Avoidant was more common in individualistic Western cultures, and resistant between collectivist.
  • Germany had the most insecure-avoidant (35%) as they encourage independence, and Japan has the most insecure-resistant (27%) due to mothers spending increased time with their children and encouraging asking for help.
• Investigating cultural variation:

  Simonella et al - Demonstrated the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was over 50% which was lower than expected. Researchers suggested that these changes could be due to changing cultural and social expectations of mothers - more mothers are working and choosing to use professional childcare to do so, decreasing the likelihood that their child formed a secure attachment with a consistent caregiver.
• Investigating cultural variation:

  Jin et al (2012) - Found that when the Strange situation was used to assess 87 Korean infants aged 6 months, the majority of insecurely attached children were actually classed as insecure resistant as opposed to avoidant. This pattern was similar to that of Japan, suggesting similarities in child-rearing practices are influential in establishing patterns of attachment.
• Limitations of cultural variation studies:

  • Lacks ecological validity - Study attempted to measure cultural variations in attachment through studying different countries. BUT, multiple different cultures can exist within the same country, and this was unlikely to be acknowledged. For example, Sagi and Van Ijzendoorn found rural areas = overrepresentation of insecure-resistant, urban areas = similar attachment patterns to the Western world, suggesting that Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg did not account for such differences.
• Strengths of cultural variation studies:

  • Reliability - The findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg can be considered reliable due to the significantly large samples that they used (i.e. 1990 children). This replicability increases the validity and faith in the conclusions drawn because it decreases the likelihood that the observed results were simply due to chance or a ‘one-off’.
• Stages of the strange situation:

  1. Mother and child enter room.
  2. Child is encouraged to explore.
  3. Stranger enters room and attempts to interact with the child.
  4. Mother leaves while stranger attempts to interact.
  5. Mother enters and stranger leaves.
  6. Mother leaves and stranger returns.
  7. Mother returns and interacts with child.
• Strengths of the strange situation:

  • Replicable - Highly controlled observational study with standardised procedures and clear behavioural categories (operationalised). This allows for a systematic and consistent approach to studying attachment and researchers have been able to replicate the study and compare results across different groups.
• Strengths of the strange situation:

  • Predictive validity - Children classified as securely attached tend to have better social, emotional and academic outcomes in later childhood and adulthood. McCarthy studied 40 adult women assessed with the strange situation as infants. Findings showed adults with the most long lasting and secure friend / relationships were securely attached.