Mary Ainsworth(1978)-The Strange Situation

Mary Ainsworth(1978)-The Strange Situation

1. Main aim

   • To find out what proportion of children were either insecurely attached or securely attached and how attachments might vary between children

2. It was an observational study of individual differences

   • experimantal procedure
     • The experiment was set up in a small room with one way glass so the behaviour of the infant can be observed secretly
       • The behaviour of the infant was observed in a series of eight 3 minute episodes
         • 1) Caregiver and infant are introduced to the experimental room
           • 2) A second female adult who is a stranger to the child comes in and talks, first to the mother and then to the child
             • 3) The mother leaves the room at some point while the stranger is talking to the child
               • 4) The stranger interacts with the child
                 • 5) The mother returns and the stranger leaves
                   • 6) The mother leaves the room so the child is alone
                     • 7) The stranger returns to be with the child
                       • 8) The mother returns to the room again
         • Four categories of behaviourswere measured and observed
           • SECRE ATTACHMENT- Mother is used as a secre base, distressed when mother leaves, glad on reunion, clear reference for mother over stranger
           • ANXIOUS AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT- The child does not seem to care about the mothers activity, unresponsive, indifferent
           • ANXIOUS RESISTANT- Very clingy to mother, distressed when she leaves, glad and angry when she returns, Ambivalence-(wants to cling but doesnt want to), confused about own feelings
           • OTHER-DISORGANISED/DISOREINTATED- No set patterns in bahaviour, behaviour shows mixed reactions, typical of abused or abandoned children, often seen in 'war zones' around the world. Will use mother as a safe base to explore their environment. The mother and stranger are able to confort theinfant equally well
             • Suggested by Main and Solomon (1986)

3. Participants

   • Infants were betwwen 12 and 18 months
   • The sample consisted of 100 middle class American families

4. Evaluation

   • Strengths
     • Good reliability
       • Demonstrated by Main, Kaplan and Cassidy (1985)
         • They tested babies at 18 months and then retested them at 6 years of age.
           • They found that 100% of the secre babies were still classified as secre and 75% of the avoidant babies were still under the same classification. This called TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY and checks for consistency over time.
   • Weaknesses
     • Carried out in a laboratory
       • The child is placed in a strange artificial environment and the procedure of the mother and the stranger leaving the room follows a script. Meaning it is highly artificial and therefore has low ecological validity
     • Used middle class American infants and mothers
       • It is difficult to generalise the findings outside of America and to working class families
     • Demand Characterisitics
       • The child is put under stress (separation and stranger anxiety) the study has broken the ethical guideline protection of participants
     • Only measures attachment to the Mother (gender biased)
       • The child may have a different type of attachment to the father or grandmother etc. It lacks validity as it is not measuring a general attachment style, but instead an attachment style specific to the mother
     • Doesnt consider temperament or past experiences
       • Childrens attachment may change perhaps because of changes in the childs circumstances, so a securely attached child may appear insecurely attached if the mother becomes ill or the family circumstances change.
         • e.g Lamb 1997