What is the Ainsworth Strange Situation?
What is the Ainsworth Strange Situation?
The Strange situation is a standardized procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s to observe attachment security in children within the context of caregiver relationships. It applies to infants between the age of nine and 18 months. John Bowlby (1969) believed that attachment was an all or nothing process.
Is attachment theory Cross Cultural?
The universality hypothesis of attachment theory suggests that attachment security patterns are consistent across all cultures with the secure type being the superior, preferred type of attachment and insecure types being the deviant or non-preferred types that occur in the presence of multiple risk factors in the …
Why is the Strange Situation culturally biased?
Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Research can be seen to be ethnocentric due to the fact that the research procedure was developed in the United States and is based on the US views of what is seen as ‘important’ in caregiver-infant attachment (is based purely on US values).
What four categories did Ainsworth measure and observe?
Secure Attachment Ainsworth and colleagues identified 4 types of infant attachment through observations of the Strange Situation: secure, resistant, avoidant, and disorganized-disoriented. The most common type of attachment is labeled as secure attachment.
How does culture play a role in attachment?
How does culture influence attachment? Culture influences the value that mothers, families and communities place on children, as well as the value that mothers, families and communities place on the role of being caregivers. In many cultural communities, children are highly valued as is the role of caregivers.
What are the 4 different types of attachment styles?
Bowlby identified four types of attachment styles: secure, anxious-ambivalent, disorganised and avoidant.
Why does the Strange Situation lack validity?
This challenges the validity of the Strange Situation because its intention is to measure the quality of attachment, not the temperament of the child (i.e. a confounding variable). Some studies have found low correlation between maternal sensitivity and the strength of attahcment.
How does Mead’s study demonstrate cultural bias?
Mead’s research has been much criticised for observer bias and cultural bias. She may have over-emphasised the role of nurture over nature because of her own beliefs, so she may not have been objective. The men are often away for large periods of time hunting for food and they held largely traditional roles.
What type of experiment is the Strange Situation?
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation (1970) used structured observational research to assess & measure the quality of attachment. It has 8 pre-determined stages, including the mother leaving the child, for a short while, to play with available toys in the presence of a stranger & alone and the mother returning to the child.
What is Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation (1970) used structured observational research to assess & measure the quality of attachment. It has 8 pre-determined stages, including the mother leaving the child, for a short while, to play with available toys in the presence of a stranger & alone and the mother returning to the child.
What is Mary Ainsworth’s (1971) study of individual differences in attachment?
Mary Ainsworth’s (1971, 1978) observational study of individual differences in attachment is described below. The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds were investigated using the strange situation paradigm, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviors and styles of attachment.
What is the strange situation?
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. The hallmark of infant attachment is using one or a few people as a secure base from which to explore and as a haven of safety when needed.
What are the methodological criticisms of Ainsworth’s research?
A major methodological criticism of Ainsworth’s research is that the sample was restricted to 100 middle class Americans & their infants, so it is unlikely that findings would be representative of the wider population.
