Strange situation-EVALUATION

Question 1

one weakness is that it ONLY measures attachment type to infant to MOTHERs

Answer 1

this is an issue as we ASSUME they’re the primary attachment, which may not be.

THEREFORE this is a RESTRICTED view of the child and can OVERLOOK the fact there could be DIFF attachment types with DIFF caregivers e.g. dad.

supported by another psychologist who found that attachment types between caregivers vary.

Question 2

one strength is that it has HIGH inter-rater validity

Answer 2

94% AGREEMENT between trained SS observers which equals to 0.94 and so proves a high positive CORRELATION (+0.8)

Strength as NO researcher bias, suggesting variables have been CONTROLLED which could have CONFOUNDED the result if not.

THEREFORE, increased control means increased internal validity so we ARE measuring attachment type as intended.

Question 3

one weakness is that the sample was LIMITED

Answer 3

only middle-class white american moms+kids.

issue as results in terms of attachment can ONLY be generalised to that group, so LACKS pop.validity and findings will NOT represent population as a whole

Question 4

one issue is that it is ETHNOCENTRIC

Answer 4

believes that the results achieved in america are normal and superior. So we make INACCURATE judgements about other cultures due to the CULTURE BIAS

e.g. in Japan there’s high levels of sep anxiety as babies are rarely seperated from mum, SS would immediately see this as insecure-resistant WITHOUT taking cultural differences in child rearing into account.

generalising to other cultures would be a BETA BIAS as we would be MINIMISING differences between cultures and ASSUME they all have same types of attachment to the same DEGREE which they don’t.

not a VALID research tool. EMIC in america but IMPOSED ETIC in other cultures assuming that it’s equally valid in other cultures when it’s not.