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mary ainsworth the strange situation - Coggle Diagram
mary ainsworth the strange situation
aim
to see how infants between the ages of 9 and 18 months behaves under stress and novelty in order to test stranger anxiety
to assess individual differences between mother and infants attachments and the quality of attachment
procedure
8 stages which last 3 minutes each except the first one
the behaviours were observed and video taped
106 infants altogether
the testing room was unfamiliar setting
ainsworth was looking for 3 behaviours - proximity and contact seeking behaviours, contact maintaining, proximity and interaction avoidance, contact and interaction resisting, search behaviours
every 15 seconds the behaviour was recorded and scored on a scale of 1-10
findings
in general infants explored the room and played with toys when the mother was presented
3 types of attachment
type A insecure avoidant - 15% of infants ignored mother
Type B secure attachment 70% played with mother
Type C insecure resistant 15%were fussy and wary
conclusion
sensitive responsiveness is a major factor determining the quality of attachments.
sensitive mother correctly interprets infants signals and respond to their needs
sensitive mothers tend to have securely attached babies whereas insensitive do not
evaluation
the study shows that attachment types are not permanent characteristics as family situations can change
an artificial situation
lacks ecological validity
babies are more likely to show attachment in a lab rather than at home because it is an unfamiliar environment
unethical as it deliberately stresses infants