Types

• The strange situation is a procedure for assessing the quality of attachment between the infant and mother. Designed by Mary Ainsworth and Silvia Bell. Their strange situation procedure is used structured observational research to assess and measure the quality of attachment.
• The strange situation consisted of 106 infants aged between 9 and 18 months (all from middle-class families). The aim of the study was to assess how infants between these ages behave under conditions of mild stress and novelty in order to test stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and secure base behaviours. It also assessed individual differences between mother-infant peers in terms of quality attachments.
• Attachment is characterised by specific behaviours in children, such as: proximity seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and response to reunion.
• Proximity seeking: a baby with good quality attachment will stay fairly close to caregiver.
• Exploration and Secure-base Behaviour: good attachment enables a baby to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base.
• Separation Anxiety: one of the signs of becoming attached is to protest at separation from the caregiver.
• Stranger Anxiety: sign of becoming closely attached is a display of anxiety when a stranger approaches.
• Response to Reunion: babies who are securely attached greet the caregiver’s return with pleasure and seek comfort.
• Strange Situation Procedure:

  1. Caregiver and child enter playroom.
  2. Child encouraged to explore.
  3. Stranger enter and attempts to interact.
  4. Caregiver leaves while the stranger is present.
  5. Caregiver enters and stranger leaves.
  6. Caregiver leaves.
  7. Stranger returns.
  8. Caregiver returns and interacts with child.
• 60-75% of babies were secure (explore but regularly go to caregiver, moderate separation and stranger anxiety, accept mother’s comfort, likely have caregiver sensitive to needs), 20-25% were insecure avoidant (don’t seek proximity or show base behaviour, little to no separation or stranger anxiety, little effort to make contact with mother when returned, likely have insensitive caregiver), 3% were insecure resistant (seek greater proximity, high separation and stranger anxiety, resist comfort from mother when returned, likely have caregiver who inconsistently responds to emotional needs).
• A strength of the strange situation is that it predicts a number of aspects of the baby’s later development. E.g. A large amount of research shows babies and toddlers assessed as secure tend to have better outcomes than the others in childhood and adulthood.
• The strange situation also has good inter-rater reliability. Johanna Bick et al tested it with a team of observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases. This may be because the study is under controlled conditions and because behaviours involve large movements so are easy to observe.
• The study however may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts. It was developed in Britain and the USA so it may be culturally bound. Babies have different experiences in different cultures which may affect their response. E.g. Takahashi studied babies in Japan and they displayed high levels of separation anxiety so most were classed as insecure-resistant. He suggested the response was due to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where separation is rare.
• Mary Main and Judith Solomon identified a fourth category- a disorganised attachment, a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours. However these babies have usually experienced some form of severe neglect. Most will develop psychological disorders by adulthood.