attachment: ainsworth strange situation

Question 1

what was the aim of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 1

to be able to observe key attachment behaviours as a means if assessing quality of attachment to a caregiver

Question 2

outline the procedure of Ainsworth’s strange situation including the 5 key behaviours that were being observed.

Answer 2

• used 100 middle class infants
• controlled observation
• took place in a room with two way mirror which psychologists can observe behaviour through

key behaviours:
- proximity seeking
- stranger anxiety
- separation anxiety
- response to reunion

Question 3

outline the 7 stages of the strange situation.

Answer 3

1. caregiver enters with infant and infant left to explore
2. stranger enters and approaches the infant
3. caregiver leaves and stranger interacts with the infant
4. caregiver returns, stranger leaves
5. caregiver leaves baby alone
6. stranger enters and interacts with the infant
7. caregiver returns and greets the infant

Question 4

what is secure-base behaviour?

Answer 4

good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore, using the caregiver as a secure base

Question 5

what are the three types of attachment?

Answer 5

insecure avoidant
secure attachment
insecure resistant

Question 6

what is the prevalence of each type of attachment in British babies?

Answer 6

insecure avoidant: 20-25%
secure attachment: 60-75%
insecure resistant: 3%

Question 7

what behaviours is secure attachment characterised by?

Answer 7

moderately upset when mum leaves, slightly weary of stranger, will explore but uses mother as secure base

Question 8

what behaviours is insecure-avoidant attachment characterised by?

Answer 8

not bothered when mum returns, explores freely, not phased by the stranger

Question 9

what behaviours is insecure-resistant attachment characterised by?

Answer 9

doesn’t explore, extremely upset when mum leaves, doesn’t like the stranger, cross when mum returns

Question 10

ao3: how does the strange situation show good inter-rater reliability?

Answer 10

more than one observer is used and the experiment was filmed

Question 11

ao3: how is the strange situation culturally biased? why is this a limitation of this method of assessing attachment types?

Answer 11

Ainsworth judged children by western standards which may not be applicable to other cultures where child-rearing practices are different

Question 12

ao3: is this study necessarily measuring attachment? why might this be a criticism of this way of measuring attachment types?

Answer 12

the strange situation measures a child’s responses to the anxiety produced by being in an unfamiliar environment, not attachment to caregiver itself

Question 13

ao3: why does this study lack ecological validity? how is this a limitation? can you give a counter criticism?

Answer 13

it doesn’t represent tasks completed by caregiver to infants in real life

counter: Ainsworth recognised situation as ‘strange’ and knows that validity had to be sacrificed for the high control of a lab observation

Question 14

ao3: what is disorganised attachment? how is this a criticism of the strange situation?

Answer 14

disorganised children display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours, shows some children do not fall into each category (Main + Solomon 1986)

Question 15

ao3: what research support does the strange situation have? how is this a strength?

Answer 15

Walter (1978), independent observers came to the same classifications of attachment as the original observers, shows study is replicable and has backup