TYPES OF ATTACHMENT

• Who assessed the types of attachment?

  Ainsworth developed the ‘strange situation’
• how did ainsworth assess attachment?

  controlled observation in a lab with a two way mirror for the psychologists to observe the baby’s behaviour
• what were the 5 categories to judge attachment quality?

  Proximity seeking

  exploration and secure base behaviour

  stranger anxiety

  separation anxiety

  response to reunion
• how did they assess proximity?

  well attached babies stay close to caregiver
• how did they assess exploration and secure base behaviour?

  good attachment makes a baby confident to explore, using the caregiver as a point of safety
• how did they assess stranger anxiety?

  displayed in well attached babies
• how did they judge separation anxiety?

  displayed in well attached babies
• how did they judge response to reunion?

  well attached babies are more enthusiastic
• What was the procedure of Ainsworths strange situation?

  the baby experiences 7 ‘episodes’ lasting three minutes each

  each time the response was observed
• what are the 7 steps of the strange situation?

  Baby is encouraged to explore by caregiver

  stranger enters and talks to caregiver, approaches baby

  caregiver leaves

  caregiver returns and the stranger leaves

  caregiver leaves the baby alone

  stranger returns

  caregiver returns
• what are the three main types of attachment?

  secure attachment

  insecure avoidant attachment

  insecure resistant attachment
• what percentage of British toddlers show secure attachment?

  60-75% of British Toddlers
• what percentage of British toddlers show insecure avoidant attachment?

  20—25% of British toddlers
• what percentage of british toddlers show insecure resistant attachment?

  3% of British toddlers
• what behaviours do securely attached toddlers show?

  happy to explore but use caregiver as a safe base

  show medium separation and stranger anxiety

  lots of joy on reunion
• what behaviours do insecure avoidant attached toddlers show?

  explore freely but doesn’t use caregiver as a safe base

  low separation and stranger anxiety

  no joy at reunion and avoids contact
• what behaviours do insecure resistant attached toddlers show?

  explores less and seeks greater proximity ton caregiver

  high separation and stranger anxiety

  resists and rejects caregiver on reunion
• Strengths of the strange situation

  good predictive validity - attachment type predicts later development, eg secure babies have greater success at school. insecure resistant are associated with the worst outcomes eg bullying and mental health issues

  good inter-rater reliability - different observers watching the same babies agreed on attachment types. behavioural categories are easy to observe, confident that attachment type is correct
• limitations of the strange situation

  culture bound test - might not have same meaning in countries outside USA and Europe. cultural differences mean they respond differently. difficult to know what is being measured in other cultures

  A fourth type has been identified - insecure Disorganised. display odd mixture of resistant and avoidant behaviours (they usually have experienced some form of neglect or abuse) Means Ainsworth classification is fine for NORMAL variations but not generalisable to everyone