strange situation

• • controlled observation
  • 12-18 month old babies and their mothers were observed via video to assess secure- base behaviour, separation anxiety, reunion behaviour and stranger anxiety
• Procedure

  • Mother and infant taken into a room
  • Mother sits and lets the baby explore the surroundings
  • Stranger enters the room, converses with mother and approaches the baby
  • Mother leaves the room
  • Stranger interacts with the baby
  • Stranger leaves, mother comforts the baby, settles them into play then leaves again
  • Baby is left alone and the stranger returns
  • The mother returns shortly after and is reunited with her baby
• Types of attachment and their findings

  • Secure (type B, 70%)- mother was used as a safe base. Wary of stranger but still happy while mother was present. Distressed when separated. Greets mother warmly on return
  • Insecure- avoidant (type A, 15%)- play hardly affected whether mother was present or not. Little distress when separated. Rejects comfort from stranger. Avoids contact with mother on return.
  • Insecure- resistant (type C, 15%)- fussy and clingy, wary of stranger with mother present. Very distressed when mother leaves. Sought contact from mother upon her return but appeared angry
• Good reliability 


  Inter-rater reliability was tested and found 94% of cases were accurate. This may be because the experiment is carried out in controlled conditions and their distress behaviours are easily observed.
• Cultural differences 


  Strange situation was developed in the US and the UK. This may mean that it is only valid in certain cultures as children in different cultures may have different experiences that impact the results. E.g. Japanese study- babies displayed high separation anxiety and were classified as insecure- resistant. Suggests the response is not due to Insecure attachment, but its due to lack of separation between mothers and infants.
• Not protected from psychological harm
• Lacks ecological validity 


  Conducted the experiment in a lab. Settings were also unfamiliar to the children and parents. They may have acted differently because of this, which means the results may not be valid as they are not their authentic selves in the experiment