The Strange
Situation- Mary Ainsworth
Background study in
Uganda
Ainsworth
worked with Bowlby and was influenced greatly by his work. She was interested
in the individual differences and types of attachment studying infants. She
conducted a 2 year naturalist observation of 26 mothers and their infants in 6
villages looking and mother child interactions.
Ainsworth categorised
the relationships she observed into three categories:
·
securely attached – these children were generally
content and pacified by their mothers’ presence
·
insecurely attached – children were less willing to
explore and frequently cried
·
not yet attached – children were indifferent to their
mothers’ presence
PROCEDURE
She devised
a structured observation using a standardised procedure. A mother and baby are
observed in an experiment room via a one-way mirror. The procedure is outlined
below:
1. Mother and baby play: The mother and baby are shown into
the experimental room, which has two chairs and toys for the infant to play
with. The mother then plays with her baby
2. Baby is left to
explore: The
mother stops playing with the child. The infant is left to explore the room
freely and continue playing with the toys on their own.
3. Stranger enters
the room: A
stranger enters the room and sits down in the other chair, not engaging with
the mother or baby, but after a few minutes, the strange adult tries to
interact with the child
4. First separation: mother leaves the room. The mother
exits the room leaving the child with the stranger, which, generally speaking,
leaves the infant distressed, so the stranger will attempt to comfort them
5. First reunion: mother re-enters and the stranger
leaves. As the mother comes back into the room, the stranger exits. The mother
will console the child, hopefully ending their distress by their return.
Researchers are interested in the baby’s reaction at this stage
6. 6 Second separation: mother leaves
the room. Again, the mother exits the room, leaving the child all alone in the
room, which again will cause some distress
7. Stranger returns: The stranger re-enters the room and
tries to comfort the child
8. Second reunion:
mother re-enters and the stranger leaves. As with the previous reunion, the
mother comes back into the room and comforts the child, and the stranger exits
Findings
Evaluation of Ainsworth’s study
ü Like Bowlby, Ainsworth worked in the
field of attachment and separation for many years, drawing a lot of data for
her conclusions. She carried out many studies and others used her strange
situation procedure and drew similar conclusions.
ü The strange situation is a lab based
procedure, making it highly replicable and reliable due to its well controlled
procedure. As the procedure was observed by many people inter-observer
reliability can be found.
ü The same attachment types can be
found in different studies, such as Miyake’s study in Japan and Grossman et
al’s study in Germany with children (look
at cross cultural studies)
ü Ainsworth used naturalistic
observations that were valid, e.g. demand characteristics seemed less likely.
û The strange situation task is mainly
laboratory based and artificial so it lacks overall validity. The task uses a
laboratory procedure in an unnatural environment so it could just be the
unnatural environment that causes the reactions of the infant to the mother.
û A forth type of attachment was later
added so it could be said that her theory was insufficient and not complete
with the Strange Situation task.
û The temperament of the child was not
taken into account which highlights the attention to the complexity of the
child’s interactions. Attachment and responsiveness is therefore hard to
measure and shows some issues with the reliability of the study.
Cross cultural studies using the Strange Situation task
This procedure has
been used by many researchers in many different cultures to measure attachment
types, and these results can be analysed, using meta analysis (analysing the
findings of different studies which aim to measure a common variable and have a
common hypothesis). The table below outlines some of the attachment types found
from carrying out the strange situation on mothers and their children from
samples in different cultures:
The Israeli study by Sagi et al
was carried out in a Kibbutz. This is a collective community, where children
during the day are normally looked after by temporary caregivers, called
metapelets. This meant that for a large proportion of the day, the infants would
not see their mothers. Sometimes, sleeping was communal as well which meant
they might not even see their mothers to sleep. This helps to explain the 50%
of Type C attachments found in the Israeli Kibbutzim study, as insecure
attachments will be formed.
The German study by
Grossman showed a high number of infants who had developed
anxious-avoidant attachments, but the German mothers were not insensitive to
their babies’ needs. So it was suggested, not that they lacked the appropriate
responsiveness to their children, but that in Germany, it might be that parents
value independence more, so the results may be explained by cultural
differences in parenting styles.
Evaluate cross-cultural studies using the Strange Situation
task
ü Conclusions from each study can be
compared with one another fairly, giving the findings reliability in that the
same procedures were used
ü There was consistency in the patterns
observed, e.g. three types were identified into 3 groups from the study
ü The main attachment type which is
securely attached and when a different attachment type is found to be
predominate it is usually explicable by looking at cultural preferences
regarding acceptable behaviour- rather than bad mothering.
û Using this procedure developed in the
USA in cultures as different as Germany and Israel it might be that the task
itself gives differences in findings as much as differences in the sensitivity
of the mothers.
û Cultures have many differences, such
as parenting styles and expectations of children in that particular society.
With so many factors it is extremely difficult/impossible to draw conclusions
and establish cause and effect.