strange situation

Who carried out the strange situation

Ainsworth

What are the 7 phases of the strange experiment

START: When the mother baby and research are in the room together

EPISODE 1: The child is encouraging to explore and play with the new environment still with mother but researcher leaved

EPISODE 2: stranger comes in an interacts with the child and mother is still here

EPISODE 3:The caregiver leaves the child and is just with stranger

EPISODE 4: The care giver returns and the stranger leaves

EPISODE 5:The caregiver leaves the child alone in the room for the first time

EPISODE 6: The stranger returns to the room

EPISODE 7:The caregiver returns and is reunited with the child

what are the 3 types of attachment

Insecure avoidant secure Insecure Resistant

Insecure avoidant( type A)

Infants keep a distance from their mother not using her as a secure base base but exploring. The infant displays low stranger anxiety and when mum returns there indifferent. Mothers seem to show little sensitive response.

Secure (type B )

infants use their mothers as a safe base as they explore there environment. They show moderate separation anxiety and separation anxiety care giver shows sensitive response

Insecure resistant (type C)

Infants don’t explore there extremely clingy seeking closeness to mum. They have high stranger and separation anxiety when mothers return there ambivalent with mixed emotions craving attention but rejecting her. Mothers seem inconsistent with there sensitive response.

One strength is inter rater

One advantage of Ainsworth’s strange situation is that it has high inter-observer and test-retest reliability.

This is because the technique involves a highly controlled and standardised procedure with seven distinct episodes, each of three minutes duration, that are always carried out in the same order with clear behaviours to observe such as those involving reunion with the mother.

As the research is highly operationalised, observers have a clear view of how a securely attached infant should behave, due to the 4 specific criteria that Ainsworth used. For this reason, the research should have high inter-observer reliability.

As a result, 94% of observers have been found to provide the same attachment types and Waters found that 48/50 infants had the same attachment type at 18 months as that when they were aged 12 months.

Overall, therefore, there is some evidence to suggest that the Strange Situation is a suitable technique for classifying attachment types and that these remain consistent when further research using the same individuals is completed.

One strength is that there is a clear link / association between mothers behaviour and there attachment types

There appears to be a distinct association between the mothers’ behaviour and the infants’ attachment type which suggests the mothers’ behaviour may be important in determining attachment type. This can be related to Bowlby’s theory of the internal working model especially as Main confirmed using the adult attachment interview that mothers who had secure attachments themselves tend to be more responsive to their own children so producing securely attached children.

One strength is that it replicable

One strength is that it is replicable. This is because the technique involves a highly controlled and standardised procedure with seven distinct episodes, each of three minutes duration, that are always carried out in the same order with clear behaviours to observe such as those involving reunion with the mother. This allows it to be replicated. This is beneficial as it means that multiple researchers can carry out the study to check the validity of its findings ie that securely attached infants use secure base behaviour.

One limitation is Ainsworth’s sample

A major methodological criticism of Ainsworth’s research is that the sample was restricted to 100 middle class Americans and their infants, so it is unlikely that findings would be representative of the wider population. This research is ethnocentric as it only focuses on a western culture and doesn’t look at over cultures eg collectivist. The procedure itself is culturally biased and suffers from imposed etic. This is because the strange situation was designed by an American according to observations of US children. Consequently, the criteria used to classify infants are based on US values, relating to child-parent behaviour. It could be argued that this is ethnocentric as observations of non-Americans will be judged according to American standards. E.g. Japanese infants were judged as being resistant due to high levels of distress that were observed but this reflects their lack of experience during the “infant alone” part of the research, rather than a resistant attachment type. This limited the generalisability of his finding.

One limitation is that its highly controlled methodology of the strange situation has been criticised

One limitation is that its highly controlled methodology of the strange situation had been criticised as being highly artificial. The observation lack ecological validity as they are held in a laboratory not in a familiar environment like there home . Additionally the observation is overt for the mother as she knows her behaviour is being recorded and monitored so she may show more sensitive responses than usual due to demand characteristic.