Outline and Evaluate Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Outline and evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation

The strange situation was devised by Ainsworth as a systematic way of testing the nature of attachment. The main aim was to see how infants between the ages of 9 and 18 months behave when subject to mild stress. The stress is created through the presence of a stranger and the separation from a caregiver, testing both stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. A secondary aim of the strange situation is to test the ‘secure base’ concept by placing the infant in a novel environment. The parent and infant are placed in a room with some observers watching behind one way glass. A series of episodes take place, where the parent plays with the infant, a stranger walks into the room, the parent leaves the room, the infant is left alone with the stranger and then the parent returns to the room offering the child comfort. Data is collected by the group of observers about what the infant is doing every fifteen seconds. The observer’s note which of the five following behaviours are exhibited: 1) proximity and contact seeking behaviours, 2) contact maintaining behaviours, 3) proximity and interaction avoiding behaviours, 4) contact and interaction resisting behaviours and 5) search behaviours. These are rated for intensity on a scale of 1-7. There was a meta-analysis conducted by Van Ijzendoorn in 1999 that found that 62% of children were securely attached, 15% were insecure avoidant and 9% were insecure resistant.

The study has been conducted in artificial settings, and it cannot represent what infants experience in real life settings and therefore lacks ecological validity. However, the experimental settings allow procedures be operational, making it easier to be replicated again. This can increase reliability if tests are repeated.The large flaw of Ainsworth's strange situation is the fact that it may not measure the attachment type of the infant but rather the quality