Ainsworth's Strange Situation

• Exploration and secure base behaviour determines a good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore, using caregiver as a secure base
• Stranger anxiety can determine a good attachment when a display of anxiety is present as a stranger approaches, the baby will look at the stranger or will get close to their mother; will ignore the stranger and will carry on playing
• Separation anxiety can determine a good attachment when the infant protests at separation from caregiver; child will cry if the mother is not present or in a bad attachment will ignore the fact that mother is gone and keeps playing with toys
• Reunion behaviour can determine a good attachment when the infants response to the caregiver after separation for a short period of time, the child is happy to see their mother; in a bad attachment, the infant will ignore the mother or reject the mother
• Stages of Strange Situation:

  1. Exploration: mother and infant alone, infant allowed to explore room
  2. Stranger anxiety: stranger joins mother and infant, talks briefly with mother
  3. Stranger attempts to interact with child
  4. Separation/ stranger anxiety: mother leaves infant and stranger alone
  5. Reunion behaviour: mother returns and stranger leaves
  6. Separation anxiety: mother leaves and infant left completely alone
  7. Stranger anxiety: stranger returns and offers comfort to infant
  8. Reunion behaviour: mother returns and stranger leaves
• Exploration- Secure Attachment:

  Baby explores unfamiliar room, using mother as a safe-base
• Exploration-Insecure Avoidant:

  Baby explores unfamiliar environment but does not use mother as safe-base
• Exploration- Insecure Resistant:

  Baby does not explore room and chooses to stay close to mother
• Separation Anxiety- Secure Attachment:

  Moderate separation anxiety; infants play is seriously disrupted when mother leaves
• Separation Anxiety- Insecure Avoidant:

  Low separation anxiety; baby not concerned by mother leaving the room
• Separation Anxiety- Insecure Resistant:

  High separation anxiety; baby is extremely distressed and violent when mother leaves
• Stranger Anxiety- Secure Attachment:

  Moderate stranger anxiety; baby is wary of stranger so moves close to mother
• Stranger Anxiety- Insecure Avoidant:

  Low stranger anxiety: baby is unconcerned about stranger, little preference between mother and stranger
• Stranger Anxiety- Insecure Resistant:

  High stranger anxiety; baby becomes extremely distressed when stranger goes to comfort them
• Reunion Behaviour- Secure Attachment:

  Infant pleased to see mother; baby seeks mother and is easily comforted
• Reunion Behaviour- Insecure Avoidant:

  Baby shows little reaction when mother returns; child ignores mother and does not seek proximity or joy
• Reunion behaviour- Insecure Resistant:

  Baby is not easily comforted by mother; baby seeks mother at the same time rejects her
• Secure Attachment- 66%

  Insecure Avoidant- 22%

  Insecure Resistant- 12%
• S- Attachment types (Ainsworth):

  Attachment types are a strong predictor of later development in children: babies assessed as secure have better relationships in adulthood/ more successful in school/jobs. Resistant associated with worse outcomes including bullying in later childhood (Kokkinos, 2007) (Ward et al., 2006). Attachment is a good predictor of future adult relationships. Therefore, SSC has good predictive validity
• S- Good inter-rater reliability (Ainsworth):

  Different observers watching same children in SS generally agree on attachment type classification. SS take place under control conditions and behavioural categories are easy to observe. For example, Bick et al. (2012) looked at inter-rater reliability on trained SS observers; found inter-rater reliability of 94%. Suggests SS is a reliable tool to measure attachment types in children.
• W- Cultural differences (Ainsworth):

  Studies replicated in Germany found avoidant was the most common attachment type. However, this does not indicated poor attachment between German mothers and children, but indicated encouraged independence in children. If children are not used to strangers, they are classified as resistant when their behaviour may not be related to their relationship with their mother. Suggests SSC is not measuring attachment but how different cultures rear their children. Reduces validity of SSC to measure attachment type
• W- Ethnocentric (Ainsworth):

  Strange Situation Classification was designed by an American according to observations of American children. SSC was designed to classify infants based on US values, relating to child-parent behaviour. It could be argued that the SS is ethnocentric as the classification was an American tool used to observe non-American families.