Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation

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Procedure

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Ainsworth and Bell (1971) conducted a controlled observation recording the reactions of a child and its mother (caregiver), who were introduced to a strange room with toys. In the Strange Situation, about 100 middle-class American infants and their mothers took part. The infant's behaviour was observed during a set of pre-determined activities.

The Strange Situation procedure involved the child experiencing eight 'episodes' of approximately 3 minutes each.

The child is observed playing for 20 minutes while its caregiver and a stranger enter and leave the room, recreating the flor of familiar and infamiliar presene in most children's lives. Observers noted the child's willingness to explore, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.

Ainsworth and Bell observe from the other side of a one-way mirror so that the children did not know that they were being observed.

Findings

Secure Attachment

Separation anxiety: Distressed when mother leaves.

Stranger anxiety: Avoidant of stranger when alone but friendly when mother present.

Reunion behaviour: Positive and happy when mother returns.

Other: Will use the mother as a safe base to explore their environment.

Infants: 70%

Insecure-Resistant Attachment

Separation anxiety: Infant shows signs of intense distress when mother leaves.

Stranger anxiety: Infant avoids the stranger - shows fear of stranger.

Reunion behaviour: Child approaches mother but resists contact.

Other: Infant cries more and explores less than the other two types.

Infants: 15%

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment

Separation anxiety: Infant shows no sign of distress when mother leaves.

Stranger anxiety: Infant is OK with the stranger and plays normally when stranger is present.

Reunion behaviour: Infant shows little interest when mother returns.

Other: Mother and stranger are able to comfort the infant equally well.

Infants: 15%

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Types of Attachment

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Secure Attachment: 70%

The main characteristics of this attachment type are:

Infants are upset when left alone by the mother.

Infants are happy when mother returns and seek contact with the mother.

Infants avoid the stranger when alone, but friendly when the mother is present.

The infants use the mother as a safe base to explore their environment.

This type of attachment occurs because the mother meets the emotional needs of the infant.

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment: 15%

The main characteristics of this attachment type are:

Infants are unconcerned by mother's absence when she leaves the room.

Infants show little interest when they are reunited with the mother.

Infants are strongly avoidant of mother and stranger, showing no motivation to interact with either adult. The stranger is treated similar to the mother (does not seek contact)

This type of attachment occurs because the mother ignores the emotional needs of the infant.

Insecure-Resistant Attachment: 15%

The main characteristics of this attachment type are:

Infants are clingy to their mother in a new situation and are not willing to explore - suggesting that they do not have trust in her.

Infants are extremely distressed when left alone by mother.

Infants cannot be comforted by a stranger and will not interact with them - they treat the stranger and the mother very differently.

Infants are pleased to to see the mother when she returns and go to her for comfort, but then cannot be comforted and may show signs of anger towards her.

This type of attachment occurs because the mother sometimes meets the needs of the infant and sometimes ignores their emotional needs, i.e. the mother's behaviour is inconsistent.

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A problem with the study is that it lacks population validity. The original study use American infants. The study tells is about how this particular group behaves and cannot be generalised to the wider population and other cultures.

Another criticism of the study is that it has low ecological validity, so the results may not be applicable outside of the lab. The environment of the study was controlled and the eight scripted stages of the procedure would be unlikely to happen in real life.

One strength of the study is that it is easy to replicate. This is because it follows a standardised procedure involving the eight episodes of the mother and stranger entering and leaving the room.

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Cultural Variations in Attachment

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Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) wanted to investigate if attachment styles (secure and insecure) are universal (the same) across cultures, or culturally specific (vary considerably from place to place, due to traditions, the social environment, or beliefs about children).

They did not collect the data for their study, instead they analysed data from other studies using a method called meta analysis. Data from 32 studies in 8 different countries was analysed.

All the 32 studies used the Strange Situation procedure to study attachment. Using a meta analysis (statistical technique) they calculated the average percentage for the different attachment styles (e.g. secure, avoidant, resistant) in each country.

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found that secure attachment was the majority of infants (65%). The lowest percentage of secure attachments was shown in China (50%0, and the highest in Great Britain (75%). It was also found that Western countries that support independence such as Germany have high levels of insecure-avoidant attachments (35%). Whereas Eastern countries that are more culturally close, such as Japan, had quite high levels of insecure resistant (27%). The exception to the pattern was China which had an equal number of insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant infants (both 25%).

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One problem is that many of the studies used in the meta analysis had biased samples which cannot claim to be representative of each culture. For example, only 36 infants where used in the Chinese study which is a very small sample size for such a populated country. Also most of the studies analysed were from Western cultures.

The Strange Situation was created and tested in the USA, which means that it may be culturally biased (ethnocentric), as it will reflect the norms and values of American culture. This is a problem as it assumes that attachment behaviour has the same meaning in all cultures, when in fact cultural perception and understanding of behaviour differ greatly. For example, the belief that attachment is related to anxiety on separation - this may not be the case in other cultures, such as Japan.

There is significant variation of attachments within cultures: Van Ijzendoorn looked at multiple studies in each country, and found that every study produced different levels of each attachment classification. This intra-cultural variation suggests that it is an over simplification to assume all children are brought up in the same way in a particular country.