Discuss the strange situation as a way of assessing type of attachment. [16 marks]

AO1

• controlled observation, room set-up, two-way mirror, cameras to record behaviour

• sequence of 7 episodes, three minutes each, involve entering and leaving of the primary attachment figure and a stranger

• assesses safe base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response

• can classify behaviours into three categories/types

  • A - insecure avoidant, low anxiety, doesn’t use parent as a safe base, little emotion upon reunion

  • B - secure, moderate to mild anxiety, uses parent as a safe base when exploring the room, is easily comforted upon reunion

  • C - insecure resistant, high anxiety, refusal to leave parent to use as a safe base, both seeking and pushing away parent on reunion

AO3

• culturally bound, Americanised take on ideal ‘secure’ attachment, other cultures place value on traits that result in a diagnosis of insecure attachment, e.g. independence in German infants results in avoidant label, this label is not reflective of the quality of attachment in that culture

• observation is only a snapshot of behaviour + low mundane realism

  • means behaviour shown on the day may not be reflective of day to day life

• high inter-rater reliability, Bick (2012) found it to be a +0.92 correlation in classifying of attachment type

• situation may be measuring temperament, not attachment, as suggested by Kagan (1982)