L3- Types Of Attachment

Question 1

What is ‘The Strange Situation”?

Answer 1

• methodology used by Ainsworth et al. (1970) to investigate differences in attachments between infants and their caregivers.
• controlled observation in a room with some toys.

Question 2

What was the procedure of ‘The strange situation’

Answer 2

• investigators observed infants in a series of 3 min episodes; mother and baby, stranger enters, mother leaves, mother returns, etc.
• Recorded infant’s proximity seeking, stranger anxiety, separation protest and reunion joy.

Question 3

Findings of the strange situation

Answer 3

20% - Insecure avoidant
70%- Secure
10%- insecure resistant

Question 4

What do babies with an Insecure avoidant attachment style behave like?

Answer 4

• largely ignores caregiver and plays independently while exploring room.
• No separation protest- no signs of distress when caregiver is absent
• No reunion joy- continue to ignore them when they return
• No stranger anxiety- distressed when left alone but comforted by the stranger easily as their caregiver. The caregiver and the stranger are treated same way.