lesson 3- types of attachment

Question 1

the strange situation

Answer 1

-method used by Ainsworth et al (1970) to investigate differences in attachments between infants and their caregivers, controlled observation which took place in a room that had been furnished by toys
-investigators observed the infants in a series of three minute episodes: mother and baby, stranger enters, mother leaves, mother returns
-recorded infants proximity seeking, stranger anxiety, separation protest and reunion joy

Question 2

type A

Answer 2

-insecure-avoidant
-20% of babies had attachments that were classified as insecure-avoidant
-babies with this attachment style will largely ignore their caregiver and play independently while they explore the room
-show no signs of distress/separation protest, and continue to ignore them while they return/no reunion joy, baby is distressed when left completely alone but is comforted by the stranger and caregiver equally/no stranger anxiety
-caregiver and stranger treated in much the same way

Question 3

type B

Answer 3

-secure-attachment
-70% of babies were described as securely attached
-play happily while caregiver is present and use them as a safe base while they explore the room
-clearly distressed when caregiver leaves/separation protest, even if they are not left completely alone and seeks immediate contact with their caregiver when they return/reunion joy, caregiver easily comforts them, baby is wary of stranger/stranger anxiety, but accepts some comfort from them when caregiver is absent

Question 4

type C

Answer 4

-insecure-resistant
-10% of babies were put in insecure-resistant
-fussy and cry more than other babies, will not explore the room or play with the toys very much, clingy instead
-distressed when caregiver leaves/extreme separation protest, resist comfort from caregiver on reunion/no reunion joy, strongly resist strangers attempt to make contact/extreme stranger anxiety

Question 5

evaluation (1 strength 4 weakness)

Answer 5

-replicated many times over the years, easy to replicate because of high level of control and standardised procedures, carried out successfully in many different cultures
-carried out in America, may be culturally biased, attachment behaviour that is seen as healthy in the US may not be seen as such in all cultures: in Germany at this time very few mothers worked (less than 1 in 5) but children were encouraged to be independent and self-reliant, German parents view some of the behaviours of securely attached infants such as crying when their mother leaves as being spoilt so do not reward this behaviour, this is why these children may have shown less anxiety when separated from mothers and classed as avoidant
-validity of measures has been questioned eg. can be argued proximity seeking could be a measure of insecurity rather than security
-gender biased, only ever been carried out using mothers as the caregiver, children might be insecurely attached to mothers and securely attached to fathers, doesn’t measure child’s overall attachment style only attachment to one individual, Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with
-lacks ecological validity, artificial situation may not reflect infants real world behaviour, studies have found that babies attachment behaviours are much stronger in lab settings than they are in their home environment