The Strange situation is a standardized procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth
What is the Strange Situation used for?
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 .
What is the Strange Situation test in child psychology?
an experimental technique used to assess quality of attachment in infants and young children (up to the age of 2). The procedure subjects the child to increasing amounts of stress induced by a strange setting, the entrance of an unfamiliar person, and two brief separations from the parent.
What is the Strange Situation and what does it measure?
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.
How did the Strange Situation work?
In this procedure of the Strange Situation the child is observed playing for 21 minutes while caregivers and strangers enter and leave the room, recreating the flow of the familiar and unfamiliar presence in most children’s lives. The situation varies in stressfulness and the child’s responses are observed.
What are the 4 types of attachment?
Bowlby identified four types of attachment styles: secure, anxious-ambivalent, disorganised and avoidant .
What are the 4 stages of attachment?
For example, Schaffer and Emerson suggested that attachments develop in four stages: asocial stage or pre-attachment (first few weeks), indiscriminate attachment (approximately 6 weeks to 7 months), specific attachment or discriminate attachment (approximately 7-9 months) and multiple attachment (approximately 10 ...
Is the Strange Situation valid?
Although, as Melhuish (1993) suggests, the Strange Situation is the most widely used method for assessing infant attachment to a caregiver, Lamb et al. ... This means that it lacks validity , as it does not measure a general attachment style, but instead an attachment style specific to the mother.
What does insecure attachment look like?
Signs of disorganized attachment include: Depression and anxiety . Frequent outbursts and erratic behaviors (which stems from the inability to clearly see and understand the world around them or properly process the behavior of others or relationships) Poor self-image and self-hatred.
Why is the Strange Situation culturally biased?
The Strange Situation was created and tested in the USA, which means that it may be culturally biased (ethnocentric), as it will reflect the norms and values of American culture . For example, the belief that attachment is related to anxiety on separation. This may not be the case in other cultures, e.g. Japan.
What are the 3 types of attachment?
Based on these observations, Ainsworth concluded that there were three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment . Researchers Main and Solomon added a fourth attachment style known as disorganized-insecure attachment.
What is disorganized attachment?
Disorganized attachment develops from a parent’s consistent failure to respond appropriately to their child’s distress , or by a parent’s inconsistent response to their child’s feelings of fear or distress. For example, a child might be distressed to be left with a new babysitter or unfamiliar caregiver.
What are some effects of depriving attachment?
Children with poor attachments tend to display poor socioemotional affects, such as, poor social, coping, and problem solving skills, tantrums, clingy, withdrawn, or aggressive behaviors , etc. These negative effects, often impacts the child throughout their developmental years.
Who developed the strange situation?
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 an anxious avoidant attachment?
Anxious-avoidant attachment types (also known as the “fearful or disorganized type”) bring together the worst of both worlds . Anxious-avoidants are not only afraid of intimacy and commitment, but they distrust and lash out emotionally at anyone who tries to get close to them.
What is disorganized attachment in adults?
Adults with a disorganized attachment style lack a coherent approach towards relationships . On the one hand, they want to belong. They want to love and be loved. While on the other hand, they are afraid to let anyone in. They have a strong fear that the people who are closest to them will hurt them.
