Attachment Types

Attachment Types

1. THE STRANGE SITUATION

   • Ainsworth and Witttig (1969)
     • devised the strange situation to be able to systematically test the nature of attchment
       • AIM: to see how infants (9-18 months) behave under conditions of mild stress and novelty
         • Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
           • also test the secure base
   • Procedure:
     • 9x9 ft2 room - marked off into 16 squares to help record behavior
       • 8 episodes- aimed to highlight certain behaviors
     • 1. parent +infant play
       • 2. parent sits still whilst infant plays - use of parent as a secure base
         • 3. stranger enters + talks to parent - stranger anxiety
           • 4. parent leaves + infant plays + stranger offers comfort - separation anxiety
             • 5. parent returns, greets + offers comfort - stranger leaves - reunion behavior
               • 6. parent leaves, infant alone- separation anxiety
                 • 7. stranger enters + offers comfort- stranger anxiety
                   • 8. parent returns, greets + offers comfort - reunion behavior
   • Findings:
     • Secure attachment (62%)
       • seeks close bodily contact, uses caregiver as a secure base- so can act independently, easily soothed, not likely to cry
     • insecure- avoidant (15%)
       • (anxious) avoid social interaction + intimacy, show little response to separation and do not seek proximity. happy to explore alone- angry - attachment needs not met
     • insecure resistant (9%)
       • (ambivalent) seek + reject intimacy + social interaction respond to separation from caregiver intense distress- conflicting desires of contact, angry
     • insecure disorganised (15%)
       • lack of consistent patterns of behavior - lack a coherent strategy for dealing with seperation,

2. Factors influencing attachment types

   • caregiver sensitivity
     • Ainsworth developed the maternal sensitivity scale
       • sensitivity - insensitivity to infants signals
         • found that Mothers of securely attached were more sensitive, caring cooperative and accepting
         • Mothers of insecurely attached infants = unresponsive to crying and less affectionate
         • Mothers of avoidant infants = more rejecting. paid less attention to infants entering the room
         • Mothers of resistant infants = occupied with rountine activities when holding the infant
   • Maternal reflective functioning
     • some studies = low correlations between measurements of maternal sensitivity and strength of attachment
       • slade et al 2001 -
         • greater role for maternal reflective functioning
           • reflective thinking rather than sensitivity may be the central mechanism in establishing attachment type
     • - the ability to understand what someone else is thinking and feeling.
   • Tenperament