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Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation - Coggle Diagram
Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation
Mary Ainsworth worked with John Bowlby and predominantly studied mother-infant relationships
She specifically studied mother-infant relationships in the ganda tribe of uganda and over 9 months she observed 26 mothers with infants ranging from 15 weeks to 2 years . In addition to observations she carried out interviews with the mothers and identfiied three types of attachment
Type A - Insecure Avoidant
Infants are willing to explore
They have a low level of stranger and seperation anxiety
They avoid contact at the return of their caregiver
Caregivers are indifferent to infants need
Type B - Securely Attached
Infants are keen to explore
They have high stranger anxiety
They are easy to calm
They are enthusiastic at the return of their caregiver
Caregivers are sensitive to infants needs
Type C - Insecure Resistant
Infants are unwilling to explore
They have a high level of stranger and seperation anxiety
They seek and reject contact on the return of their caregiver
Caregivers are ambivalent to infants needs , demonstrating simultaneous opposite feelings and behaviours
In 1978 Ainsworth performed a similar study in Baltimore USA , visiting 26 mother-child pairs every three to four weeks for the babies first year of life . Each visit lasted three to four hours and interviews and naturalistic observations took place
Ainsworth identified 2 important features of attachment , both with an adaptive survival value : firstly infants seek proximity to their mothers especially when feeling threatened . Secondly , secure attachments allow infants to explore , using their attached figure as a safe base to explore from and return to
The Strange Situation
Aims
To asses how infants between 9 and 18 months of age behave under conditions of mild stress and novelty , in order to test stranger anxiety , seperation anzxiety and the secure base concept
To asses individual differences between mother-infant pairs in terms of the quality of their attachments
Procedure
The strange situation was comprised of 8 episodes , each lasting 3 minutes apart from the first one which lasted 30 seconds
Every aspect of the participants behaviour was observed and videotaped , with most attention given to reunion behaviours . Data was combined from several studies and in total 106 infants were observed
The testing room was an unfamiliar environment , comprising of 81 square foot area divided into 16 squares to help record movements
Five categories were recorded : Proximity and contact seeking behaviours , contact maintaining behaviours , proximity and interaction avoiding behaviours , contact and interaction resisting behaviours and search behaviours
Every 15 seconds the category of behaviour was recorded and scored on an intensity level of between 1 and 7
Findings
Generally infants explored the playroom more enthusiastically when just the mother was present
Type A - 15% of infants , infants reacted to the mother and stranger in similar ways
Type B - 70% of infants , mother and stranger treated very differently
Type C - 15% of infants
Conclusions
Sensitive responsiveness is the major factor determining the quality of attachments , as sensitive mothers correctly interpret infants signals and response appropriately to their needs . Sensitive mothers tend to have more securely attached babies whereas insensitive mothers tend to have more insecurely attached babies
The eight episodes of the strange situation
Mother , infant , observer
Mother infant
Stranger , mother , infant
Stranger , infant
Mother , infant
Infant
Stranger , infant
Mother , infant
Evaluation
Has become a paradigm - the accepted method of testing attachments
Assumes that attachment types are fixed characteristics however classification can change if family circumstances such as mothers stress levels change
It is an artificial way of testing attachment as it is laboratory based with mother and stranger acting to a 'script' . This is far removed from everyday life so lacks ecological validity . Brofenbrenner (1979) found that infants attachment behaviours are much stronger in the laboratory than at home due to the strangeness of the environment
Focuses too much on infants behaviour and not mothers which could distort results
Has been labelled unethical as it deliberately stresses infants to see their reactions . However it can be seen as justifiable as the stress caused is no greater than that of everyday experiences such as being left with a babysitter
Main and Weston ( 1981 ) found that children acted differently in the strange situation depending on which parent they were with . Children may be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers , illustrating that attachment types are linked to individual relationships with carers are not set characteristics of children
The strange situation is reliable as children tested at different times generally have identical attachment types . Main et al (1985) found all infants identified before 18 months of age , were still securely attached at 6 years of age and 75% identified as insecure avoidant still were
Main and Soloman ( 1986) found an additional attachment type called insecure-disorganised , displayed by a small number of children , whose behaviour was a confusing mixture of approach and avoidance behaviours . Ainsworth agreed with this .
The strange situation may not be suitable for use in all cultures as it contains elements unfamiliar to some cultures such as being left with strangers
