Ainsworth's strange situation

Describe the procedure for Ainsworth’s strange situation

• The Strange Situation comprised eight episodes. Each of these lasted for about 3 minutes, except episode one which lasted for 30 seconds

• Every aspect of participants’ behaviour was observed and videotaped, with most attention given to reunion behaviours, the infants’ responses to their mothers’ return. Data were combined from several studies. In total 106 infants were observed.

• The testing room was an unfamiliar environment (‘Strange Situation’)

• Five categories were recorded

• Every 15 seconds, the category of behaviour displayed was recorded and scored on an intensity scale of 1 to 7

5 categories were recorded - what are they?

• Proximity-seeking – a baby with a good quality attachment will stay fairly close to a caregiver.

• Exploration and secure-base behaviour – good attachment enables a baby to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base, i.e. a point of contact that will make them feel safe.

• Stranger anxiety – one of the signs of becoming closely attached is a display of anxiety when a stranger approaches.

• Separation anxiety – another sign of becoming attached is to protest at separation from the caregiver

• Response to union – babies who are securely attached greet the caregiver’s return with pleasure and seek comfort

What are the 8 episodes? Who was present during each one?

1. Mother, infant, observer

2. Mother, infant

3. Stranger, mother, infant

4. Stranger, infant

5. Mother, infant

6. Infant

7. Stranger, infant

8. Mother, infant

What did Ainsworth find?

Generally infants explored the playroom and toys more enthusiastically when just the mother was present than either a) after the stranger entered or b) when the mother was absent. Reunion behaviours reflected three types of attachment

There are 3 types of attachment. What are they?

• A - Insecure avoidant

• B - Secure

• C - Insecure resistent

Describe insecure avoidant attachment style relating to Ainsworth’s study

15% of infants ignored their mother and were indifferent to her presence. Level of play wasn’t affected by the mother’s presence of absence. Infants displayed little stress when she left and ignored or avoided her when she returned. Infants reacted to the mother and stranger in similar ways, showing most distress when left on their own.

Describe secure attachment style relating to Ainsworth’s study

70% of infants played contentedly when their mother was present, whether or not a stranger was present. But were distressed when she left. On her return they sought comfort from her, calmed down and restarted to play. Mother and stranger were treated very differently.

Describe insecure resistant attachment style relating to Ainsworth’s study

15% of infants were fussy and wary, even with their mother present. They were distressed by her leaving and sought contact with her on her return, but simultaneously showed anger and resisted contact (for example, putting out their arms to be picked up, then fighting to get away once they have been picked up.

Give 1 strength and counter-arguement for strange situation study

• Predicts a number of aspects of the baby’s later development. A large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as Type B (secure) tend to have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and in adulthood. In childhood this includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying (McCormick et al 2016, Kokkinos 2007). Securely attached babies also tend t go on to have better mental health in adulthood (Ward et al 2006). Those babies assessed as having insecure-resistant attachment and those not falling into Types A, B or C tend to have the worst outcomes. This suggests that the Strange Situation measures something real and meaningful in a baby’s development. The Strange Situation clearly measures something important that is associated with later development.

• However, not all psychologists believe that this something is attachment. For example, Kagan (1982) suggested that genetically influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment in the Strange Situation and later development. This means that the Strange Situation may not actually measure attachment, but anxiety.

Give a strength of strange situation study

• Good inter-rater reliability (the agreement between different observers). Bick et al tested inter-rated reliability for the Strange Situation for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases. This high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours (such as proximity-seeking and stranger anxiety) involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. For example, anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers. This means that we can be confident that attachment type is assessed by the Strange Situation does not depend upon subjective judgements

Give a limitation of strange situation study 

• May not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts. The Strange Situation was developed in Britain and the USA. Therefore, it might be culture-bound, i.e. only valid for use in certain cultures (in this case Western Europe and the USA). One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the Strange Situation. For example, in one Japanese study by Takahashi, babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety and so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure-resistant. Takahashi suggested that this anxiety response was not due to high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is very rare. This means that it is very difficult to know what the Strange Situation is measuring when used outside of Western Europe and the USA