3.4.1 Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’

Ainsworth's strange situation

• This is a lab observation designed to measure the quality of attachment and the differences in attachment styles in infants.
• Ainsworth wanted to measure attachment styles in a controlled way and so devised a technique known as 'The Strange Situation.
• In 1970 Ainsworth and Bell observed 100 middle-class infants from a US University nursery.

Procedure

• A standardised room was used containing chairs, toys and a one-way mirror so the psychologists could film and observe without being seen
• The room was standardised in that the furniture and toys were always in the same place and all participants had exactly the same layout
• Only mothers were used as the Primary Care Giver (PCG) in this version
• The mother and infant are left to play and the child is encouraged to explore
• The stranger enters the room and attempts to interact with the infant
• The mother leaves whilst the stranger is in the room
• The mother returns and the stranger leaves
• The mother leaves
• The stranger returns
• The mother returns and the stranger leaves

What was Ainsworth looking for?

• Ainsworth was looking for 4 things:
  • How willing the infant was to explore the room?
  • How the infant reacted to the stranger?
  • How the infant reacted to being left?
  • How the infant reacted upon reunion with the mother?
• All of these behaviours could be observed on several occasions

Results

• Ainsworth had three classifications for the infants she observed:
  • Type B Secure                        70% of infants were classified as Secure
  • Type A Insecure Avoidant   15% of infants were classified as Insecure Avoidant
  • Type C Insecure Resistant   15% of infants were classified as Insecure Resistant

Conclusion

• Ainsworth concluded that the mother's behaviour toward her infant will predict attachment type
• She called this the Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis
• The fact that the majority of infants in her study were securely attached seemed to support this hypothesis

Evaluation of Ainsworth's strange situation

The positives of the strange situation

• It is very reliable as it is very easy to repeat: Especially as everything is standardised
• There is also inter-rater reliability as more than one observer was used and the experiment was filmed
• Further evidence for reliability comes from other research that has found that the categories used to observe the infants also work and the classifications for attachment are also reliable
• Independent observers come to the same classifications of attachment as the original observers in a study completed by Waters (1978)

The negatives of the strange situation

• The population validity is low as it was a relatively small sample and all the participants came from similar socio-economic and geographical backgrounds
  • This means it cannot be generalised
• It lacks ecological validity: It does not represent tasks completed by caregivers-infants in real life
  • However, Ainsworth was aware of this: She calls the study 'Strange'
  • She had to sacrifice ecological validity for the control of a lab observation
• Is the Strange Situation valid in other cultures?
  • Ainsworth is judging children by Western standards and this may not be applicable to other cultures where child-rearing practices are different i.e. Japan
• What if the mother was not the PCG?
  • A large assumption was made here as the infant may have had different attachment styles with the multiple attachments they probably already had
  • Other attachment figures were ignored