Ainsworth’s study

• Ainsworth aimed to test the quality of attachments based on individual differences between mother and infant.
• Ainsworth studied 106 middle class US infants aged 9 - 18 months
• Ainsworth used 8 “episodes” combining a stranger, the infant and their mother in a 9 x 9 room.

  This was a controlled observation, observers looked through a one way mirror.
• Ainsworths observations used a 1-7 scale based on the severity of:

  Seperation anxiety

  reunion behaviour

  stranger anxiety

  secure base
• Ainsworth developed three attachment styles between mother and infant:

  1. Secure - 70 %
  2. Insecure avoidant - 15 %
  3. Insecure resistant - 15 %
• Secure attachment - 70 % of ppts

  Caregiver responds quickly to the child’s needs.

  The child explored and returned regularly - secure base

  The child had moderate separation and stranger anxiety

  The child accepts comfort on reunion
• Insecure avoidant attachment - 15 % of ppts

  The caregiver is unresponsive, uncaring and dismissive.

  The child explores freely without proximity or secure base behaviour

  The child has low separation and stranger anxiety

  The child does not need comfort on reunion

  The child can be comforted by a stranger
• Insecure resistant attachment - 15% of ppts

  The caregiver was inconsistent and unpredictable

  The child explores less and seeks proximity

  The child has high stranger and separation anxiety

  The child resists comfort on reunion

  The child accepts comfort from strangers and is uneasy around caregiver
• AO3. Ainsworth’s research was ethnocentric. The research was based in America, and she used white, middle-class ppts. She also suggested that “secure” is a universally ideal attachment type, which isn’t correct because cultural variations have found large differences
• AO3. Ainsworths methodology is strong. The observation is controlled, with clear behaviour categories. This means that the results are highly reliable, and Ainsworths methodology can be replicated. However, the procedure is called ”strange situation” implying a lack of ecological validity as this wasn’t a typical situation for caregiver or infants to experience.
• AO3. Ainsworth‘s conclusions are reductionist explanations of attachment Types. This is because she devised three attachment types and assumed that all infants would fit into one of these groups. She was challenged by Soloman and Main, who found a fourth attachment type, insecure disorganised. This shows that human behaviour is complex and may not fit into groups, unlike what Ainsworth suggests
• Secure attachment - moderate separation and stranger anxiety
• Insecure avoidant attachment - low separation and stranger anxiety
• Insecure resistant - high stranger and separation anxiety