The strange situation

The strange situation

1. A controlled observation, 12-18 month olds and their mothers were observed using a video camera in a purpose built lab playroom to assess: secure base behaviour, separation anxiety, reunion behaviour, stranger anxiety

   • Procedure has 7 episodes, each lasting 3 minutes, firstly the child and caregiver enter and unfamiliar playroom
     • 1. The child is encouraged to explore- tests exploration and secure base
     • 2. A stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child- Tests stranger anxiety
     • 3. The caregiver leaves the child and stranger together- Tests separation and stranger anxiety
     • 4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves- Tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base
     • 5. The caregiver leaves the child alone- Tests separation anxiety
     • 6. The stranger returns- Tests stranger anxiety
     • 7. The caregiver returns and is reunited with the child- Tests reunion behaviour

2. Findings: Ainsworth et al found that there were distinct patterns in the way that infants behaved, she identified 3 main types of attachment.

   • Secure attachment- Explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver. Usually show moderate separation distress and moderate stranger anxiety. Securely attached children require and accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage. About 60-75% of British toddlers classified as secure.
   • Insecure-avoidant attachment- Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour. They show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and they make little effort to make contact when they return. Show little stranger anxiety. Do not require comfort at the reunion stage. About 20-25% of toddlers classified as insecure-avoidant.
   • Insecure- resistant attachment- Seek greater proximity than others, so explore less. Show huge stranger and separation distress but they resist comfort when reunited with their carer. Around 3% of British toddlers classified as Insecure - resistant.

3. Evaluation

   • Support for validity- Attachment type as defined by the strange situation is strongly predictive of later development. Babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas. Insecure - resistant is associated with worst outcomes including bullying in later childhood and adult mental health problems.
   • Good reliability- Shows very good inter - rater reliability. Different observers watched the same children and generally agreed on what attachment type to classify them. This may be because the strange situation takes place under controlled conditions, and because the behaviour categories are easy to observe. Bick et al looked at the inter-rate reliability in a team of trained strange situation observers and found agreement on attachment type for 94% of tested babies.
   • Test may be culture bound- There is some doubt about whether the strange situation is a culture bound test, for 2 reasons:cultural differences in childhood experiences are likely to mean that children respond differently to the strange situation, also caregivers from cultures behave differently. Takashi has noted that the test does not really work in Japan because the mothers are so rarely separated from their babies that there are very high levels of separation anxiety, Also in reunion stage the Japanese mothers rushed to the baby and scooped them up, meaning the child's response was hard to observe.