The Strange Situation Procedure | Scoring and Classification | Four Attachment Styles | Statistics & Cultural Differences | Criticism & Alternative Theory Show
What Is The Strange SituationIn the 1960s, American-Canadian psychologist Mary Ainsworth created a standardized laboratory procedure, called The Strange Situation experiment to observe an infant’s response to separations and reunions with the parent in order to assess the early security of attachment depicted in the Attachment Theory Attachment, originally introduced by John Bowlby in the 1950s, is an affectional tie that an infant forms with their parent. The hallmark behavior of attachment is that the child would seek contact and maintain proximity with the attachment figure. In developmental psychology, an infant’s behavior related to exploration, separation anxiety, stress, and fear of the unfamiliarity can predict the child’s attachment style1. These attachment behaviors include proximity-seeking behaviors (such as approaching, following, and clinging) and signaling behavior (such as smiling, crying, and calling). To examine these patterns of attachment behavior, Ainsworth designed a method carried out in an unfamiliar context. The Strange Situation ProcedureIn the Strange Situation, a baby is observed in a room with furniture and toys. At one end of the experimental room is a child’s chair heaped with and surrounded by toys. Near the other end of the room, on one side, is a chair for the parent or primary caregiver, and on the opposite side near the door, a chair for the stranger. Researchers observe the mother-infant interactions in an adjoining room through a one-way mirror. Mary Ainsworth’s attachment theory test comprises eight strange situation episodes in the following order (mothers were used in the original experiments).
Scoring and ClassificationAn infant’s action was scored based on the following five types of behavior toward the adults. Proximity-seekingProximity-seeking behaviors include active behaviors such as greeting, approaching, clambering up, reaching, or leaning. Vocal signals such as crying in the adult’s direction are also proximity-seeking. Proximity-avoidingProximity-avoiding behaviors usually apply when an adult enters the room or tries to engage the child. They include ignoring, looking away, turning away, and moving away from the adult. Contact-maintainingAfter the baby has gained contact with the mother, they may show contact-maintaining tendencies. These behaviors include clinging, embracing, clutching, holding on, and resisting release. If they lose contact, they turn back and reach, and protest vocally. Contact-resistingContact-resisting behaviors include angry, ambivalent attempts to push away, hit, or kick the mother who tries to make contact. The child may squirm to get down when they’re picked up. They push or throw away toys when the mother tries to interfere with the playing. Some babies may even scream angrily, throw themselves down, or kick the floor to protest. SearchSearch behavior was evaluated based on the child’s reaction to the mother’s departure. These actions include following the mother to the door, trying to open the door, banging on it, remaining oriented to the door, glancing at it, going to the mother’s empty chair, or simply looking at it. Other BehaviorIn addition, the child was also observed for the following responses and interactions. Exploratory (Episodes 2-7) Stranger
anxiety (Episodes 3, 4, 7) Four Attachment Styles in InfantsThe observed response in the Strange Situation procedure has proven to correlate closely with maternal and infant behavior in the home throughout a child’s first year of life2. Initially, Ainsworth classified the nature of the infants’ attachment patterns into three groups3. Later on, the mother-child attachment classifications expanded into four attachment styles as follows. Insecure Avoidant Attachment (Category A)Infants with avoidant-insecure attachments show no obvious sign of distress during the separation episodes and show avoidance of proximity upon the parent’s reunion. They don’t seek contact upon the mothers’ return. If picked up, they show little tendency to cling or resist. These young children tend to avoid the mother by ignoring her, turning away, moving past, or moving away. These babies tend to treat the strangers much as they treat their mothers, although with less avoidance. The caregiver of an avoidant child tends to dislike physical contact with the infant. The caregiver is generally low in emotional expressiveness, even in response to the sometimes highly aggressive interaction of their infant. They likely had early experiences of rejection from their parents in their own childhood. Secure Attachment (Category B)Mary Ainsworth observed that securely attached infants used the parents as a secure base for exploration when the parents were present. They explore the novel environment contently when the mother is there. When the mother of a securely attached baby leaves the room, the baby becomes visibly distressed and cries or searches for her. Despite the high levels of stress, in Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation experiment, infants who were classified as securely attached were more likely to smile and greet the parent happily when the parent returns. They actively seek contact, comfort, and support. These babies find comfort in proximity and they can re-establish emotional stability. They then resume exploring the environment. A child with a secure type of attachment is more interested in interacting with the mother than with the stranger. Roughly 50-70% of children in the United States have secure attachment4. Infants who are classified as securely attached are more likely to have mothers or caregivers who are sensitive to their signals during feeding, face-to-face play, physical contact, and distress episodes, especially in the first 3 months. These parents respond promptly and appropriately to the crying early on, resulting in less crying by the time the children reach age one5. Insecure Ambivalent Attachment (Category C)Insecurely ambivalent infants are very wary of the stranger and highly distressed on separation. When the parents return, the babies have an ambivalent response. They show an ambivalent pattern in behavior by seeking close contact and showing angry resistance at the same time. In the reunion episode, after the mothers’ return, the babies cannot settle and re-establish emotional stability for a long time. They cannot use their parents for emotional regulation. The caregiver of an ambivalently attached infant show inconsistency in responding to the child’s needs. Disorganized Attachment (Category D)An infant’s responses to the parent in the Strange Situation test reflect the history of interaction the child has with that parent at home. The pattern of these “organized” responses can predict the later functioning of the child. Attachment research has also found that many children do not fall into any of the above three organized categories. These kids’ behaviors do not resemble one another in a coherent, organized way. The only commonalities in their actions are sequences of incoherent reactions that lack a readily observable goal, intention, or explanation. The diverse, unclassified patterns were disorganized6. Developmental psychologists later on defined this category of attachment in childhood as a disorganized attachment (also known as the disoriented attachment or attachment disorganization)7. The caretaker of a disorganized infant is both the source of fright and the only safe base known to the child. They are the child’s attachment figure but they also display frightening behavior. The anomalous parental behavior was due to the unresolved state of mind. These parents may be abusive, threatening, frightened, or dissociated because of an unresolved loss or their own experience in childhood8. Statistics & Cultural DifferencesIn Mary Ainsworth’s study with only three categories (A, B & C), she found that the distribution was roughly 60-70% secure, 20% avoidant, and 10-15% resistant attachment. However, in subsequent studies in other cultures and with other samplings of the population, the distributions were found to be substantially different. They raised the question that whether cultural differences played a part in child-rearing practices9. However, a meta-analysis of 2000 samples from non-western culture countries found that the global distribution of attachment categorization was consistent with those found previously in the United States. The differences in studies were caused by variations in socioeconomic status (SES) more than by cross-cultural differences10. Criticism & Alternative TheoryMany studies and research findings have since supported the caregiver sensitivity theory illustrated in the Strange Situation. However, a meta-analysis including nonclinical samples has found evidence that although parental sensitivity plays a role in determining children’s attachment results, it’s likely not the only condition11. Psychologist Jerome Kagan argued that the individual differences in attachment could result from the diverse infant temperament and their reactions to unfamiliarity, rather than to sensitive parenting12. His point of view is that babies with a “difficult” temperament are likely to have insecure attachments. Child-rearing quality is not necessarily the reason for the child’s attachment type. References
Who developed Strange Situation procedure?The American-Canadian psychologist Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) developed the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to measure mother-child attachment and attachment theorists have used it ever since. When Ainsworth published the first results of the SSP in 1969, it seemed a completely novel and unique instrument.
What is Strange Situation procedure?The Strange Situation is a semi-structured laboratory procedure that allows us to identify, without lengthy home observation, infants who effectively use a primary caregiver as a secure base.
Who designed the Strange Situation to measure attachment?The strange situation is a procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s to observe attachment in children, that is relationships between a caregiver and child. It applies to children between the age of nine and 30 months.
Which attachment researcher used the Strange Situation as a research technique?A member of this research group in the 1950s, Mary Ainsworth drew on Bowlby's theory to develop a laboratory-based procedure, the Strange Situation (SSP), as a means of studying differences between infant-caregiver dyads in the functioning of the attachment behavioral system.
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