Ainsworth's strange situations

• strange situation 


  Ainsworth and Bell - aimed to assess individual differences in attachment - 106 middle class American infants observed with mothers in lab setting to assess attachment type - observation was controlled, overt and non participant - 8 episodes in which mother and stranger take it in turns to enter room, interact with child and leave to observe 4 keys behaviours: separation anxiety (child reacting to mum leaving) reunion behaviour (reaction when mum returned) stranger anxiety (child's reaction to stranger) exploration behaviour (child's willingness to explore environment)
• strange situation findings

  found 3 types of attachment

  secure made up 66% of sample

  insecure avoidant made up 22% of sample

  insecure resistant made up 12% of sample

  concluded sensitivity of caregiver had significant impact on attachment type of infant
• secure attachment 


  separation anxiety - distressed when mother leaves (cry and shout)

  stranger anxiety - wary of stranger - play happily when mum is present but can't be comforted when mum leaves

  reunion behaviour - approaches mother, easily comforted - joy and happiness

  exploration behaviour - keen to explore - use mother as safe base
• insecure avoidant 


  separation anxiety - no/few signs of distress when mother leaves

  stranger anxiety - easily comforted by stranger

  reunion behaviour - ignore/avoids mother on return

  exploration behaviour - keen to explore
• insecure resistant 


  separation anxiety - very distressed when mother leaves

  stranger anxiety - extreme stranger anxiety

  reunion behaviour - may go to mother but won't be comforted - may resist contact

  exploration behaviour - not willing to explore
• STRANGE SITUATION EVALUATION - lacks ecological validity

  means it was conducted in artificial setting of laboratory which may not reflect real life behaviour - children may behave differently in strange situation than they would at home and be judged inaccurately - findings can't be generalised to real life attachment behaviours
• STRANGE SITUATION - easy to replicate cross culturally

  methodology is controlled and standardised made it possible to be used in Western cultures and a wide range of other cultures - same settings and methodology have been replicated in Eastern cultures like Japan - methodology useful tool that is easy to replicate and has demonstrated variations within and between cultures
• STRANGE SITUATION EVALUATION - ignores the father


  based on relationship between infant and mother only - gives inaccurate view on child's attachment type as maybe insecurely attached to mother but securely attached to father - can't generalise results to other attachment figures
• STRANGE SITUATION EVALUATION - ethical issues


  it intends to cause mild distress to infants being observed and many see this as unacceptable - e.g. in episode 6 20% of infants reportedly cried desperately clearly showing distress - ethical guidelines state psychologists should avoid causing distress to participants - it adheres to guidelines because situation is no more disturbing than real life
• STRANGE SITUATION EVALUATION - demand characteristics


  because mothers knew they were being observed may have caused them to behave unnaturally - e.g. may have behaved more sensitively towards child than normal causing infants to behave differently too - lowers internal validity