the strange situation
‘Strange Situation’
What was the research looking at?
The research was looking at investigating the differences shown in attachments between infants and their primary caregivers (parents/ guardians etc.).
How was the experiment carried out? Who was involved?
The experiment involved using a toddler, the child’s guardian and a stranger to see the child’s reaction to the different situations using the following stages:
Results from experiment:
Three different attachment styles were discovered by Ainsworth: secure, insecure, avoidant and insecure ambivalent. The attachment style that the child developed was dependant on how the child and mother interacted in the early stages of the child’s life:
Conclusion:
It was concluded from these results that the classification of the child depends on the treatment from the guardian/ parent:
Secure attachment: It is likely that if the child has secure attachment the primary care was responsive and sensitive to the child’s needs.
Insecure ambivalent attachment: If the child has insecure ambivalent attachment the guardian/ parent was most probably inconsistent in attending to the child’s needs; sometimes the child was attended to and sometimes ignored.
Avoidant attachment: A child with avoidant attachment behaviour would usually be a product of unresponsive care so the child becomes wise to the fact that communication is futile as there will be no response to meet their needs.
Evaluation:
Mary Ainsworth’s ‘strange situation’ classification was deemed to have good reliability, becoming the accepted worldwide methodology for measuring attachment; and proved to have good consistency when a study in Germany showed that 78% of the children tested aged 1 years then again at 6 years were placed under the same classification.
However, the classification has been questioned about the fact that the classification only identifies the attachment to the mother, whereas the
What was the research looking at?
The research was looking at investigating the differences shown in attachments between infants and their primary caregivers (parents/ guardians etc.).
How was the experiment carried out? Who was involved?
The experiment involved using a toddler, the child’s guardian and a stranger to see the child’s reaction to the different situations using the following stages:
Results from experiment:
Three different attachment styles were discovered by Ainsworth: secure, insecure, avoidant and insecure ambivalent. The attachment style that the child developed was dependant on how the child and mother interacted in the early stages of the child’s life:
Conclusion:
It was concluded from these results that the classification of the child depends on the treatment from the guardian/ parent:
Secure attachment: It is likely that if the child has secure attachment the primary care was responsive and sensitive to the child’s needs.
Insecure ambivalent attachment: If the child has insecure ambivalent attachment the guardian/ parent was most probably inconsistent in attending to the child’s needs; sometimes the child was attended to and sometimes ignored.
Avoidant attachment: A child with avoidant attachment behaviour would usually be a product of unresponsive care so the child becomes wise to the fact that communication is futile as there will be no response to meet their needs.
Evaluation:
Mary Ainsworth’s ‘strange situation’ classification was deemed to have good reliability, becoming the accepted worldwide methodology for measuring attachment; and proved to have good consistency when a study in Germany showed that 78% of the children tested aged 1 years then again at 6 years were placed under the same classification.
However, the classification has been questioned about the fact that the classification only identifies the attachment to the mother, whereas the