A: Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Question 1

What was the aim of Ainsworth and Bell’s strange situation?

Answer 1

Assess the security of an infants attachment by placing them in a mildly stressful situation and observing their attachment behaviours

Question 2

What five things were they assessing in their study?

Answer 2

•proximity seeking
•exploration and secure base behaviour (going out to explore then returning)
•stranger anxiety
•separation anxiety
•response to caregiver reunion

Question 3

What is secure attachment?

Answer 3

Secure- strong, contented, develops as a result of sensitive responding to needs
-comfortable with social interaction and intimacy
-healthy cognitive and emotional development

Question 4

Insecure avoidant

Answer 4

-tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy
-develops as a result of lack of sensitive caregiver response
-may be associate with poor subsequent cognitive and emotional development

Question 5

Insecure resistant

Answer 5

-both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction
-develops as a result of lack of sensitive caregiver response
-may be associate with poor subsequent cognitive and emotional development

Question 6

Procedure of strange situation

Answer 6

-took place in a lab
-100 middle class American infants 12-18 months old and their caregiver

Mum and infant play in room
Child encourage to explore
Stranger enters
Mum leaves + interaction with stranger
Mum returns
Mum leaves infant left alone
Stranger returns instead of mum
Mum re enters and stranger leaves

Question 7

AO3: inter rater reliability

Answer 7

Strength

Different observers watch same children and agree on what attachment type to classify infants

Increased reliability

Question 8

A03: study is culture bound

Answer 8

Weakness
Cultural variations mean caregivers and children may respond differently to situation depending on cultural expectations
E.g. doesn’t work on Japanese children as so rarely separated from mothers so found high lever of separation anxiety
on reunion mothers tended to race to children and scoop them up making response hard to observe

Question 9

AO3: fails to account for individual differences

Answer 9

Study found that children acted differently around different parents
E.g. appeared insecurely attached to mother but secure to father
Attachment types linked to individual relationships not children’s set characteristics