Strange Situation.

Strange Situation.

1. By Ainsworth.

2. Proceedure

   • This is a method to determine the type of attachment a child has to its PCG
   • The experimental room is set up with one way glass to observe the behaviour of the 12-18 month old child in the eight stages, all lasting 3 minutes each.
   • Eight stages: Mum and infant in room. Infant allowed to explore and play with mum present. Stranger enters and tries to play with infant. Mum leaves and stranger offers comfort. Parent returns and offers comfort. Both leave and child is alone. Stranger enters and comforts. Parent returns and offers comfort.
   • Measuring Stranger anxiety and Separation anxiety.
   • Ainsworth completed this study on 106 American children from middle class families

3. Results

   • 70% Secure type attachments are likely to show seperation anxiety by crying and being slightly upset, they'll reject comfort from strangers and show stranger anxiety, and their reunion behaviour will accept the comfort from the PCG.
   • 15% Insecure Avioidant will show no separation anxiety and will be indifferent. They will also be indifferent for stranger anxiety. Upon reunion their behaviour will be rejecting.
   • 15% Insecure Ambivalent will show distress and screaming during separation, they will reject comfort from strangers and upon reunion they will seek comfort and then reject it.

4. Evaluation

   • The study has low ecological validity, the strange situation is abnormal and very controlled due to being a lab experiment, because of this the findings cannot be generalised beyond the research setting.
   • The study may suffer from demand characteristics, in which the mother may act differently such as more loving to seem like a good mother. If this isn't normal to the child they could be confused and not understand what's happening and act differently because of this, this loers the results validity as the child won't react as normal.
   • The study has ethical issues, babies are put under delibrate stress, making them cry is part of the study's proceedure/ The study could be critisized for being distressing to the children that are too young to understand the situation, so this could lead to ill effects later in life.
   • The study also has low population validity, only american middle class mothers and infants are used, the limits the sample as it cannot be used to generalise the results to the whole population.