Which of the Following Is the Preferred Method of Measuring the Babies Attachment to the Mother
Mary Ainsworth
The Strange Situation | Attachment Styles
Past Saul McLeod, updated 2018
The Strange situation is a standardized procedure devised past Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s to discover attachment security in children inside the context of caregiver relationships. It applies to infants between the age of nine and 18 months.
The procedure involves series of 8 episodes lasting approximately iii minutes each, whereby a female parent, child and stranger are introduced, separated and reunited.
John Bowlby (1969) believed that attachment was an all or null process. All the same, enquiry has shown that there are individual differences in zipper quality. Indeed, one of the primary paradigms in attachment theory is that of the security of an private'south attachment (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970).
Much research in psychology has focused on how forms of zipper differ among infants. For example, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) discovered what appeared to be innate differences in sociability in babies; some babies preferred cuddling more others, from very early on, before much interaction had occurred to cause such differences.
It'due south like shooting fish in a barrel enough to know when you are attached to someone considering you know how you feel when yous are apart from that person, and, existence an developed, y'all can put your feelings into words and depict how it feels.
However, most attachment research is carried out using infants and young children, then psychologists have to devise subtle ways of researching zipper styles, usually involving the observational method.
Psychologist Mary Ainsworth devised an assessment technique called the Strange State of affairs Classification (SSC) in guild to investigate how attachments might vary between children.
The Strange Situation was devised by Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) and was based on Ainsworth'southward previous Uganda (1967) and later Baltimore studies (Ainsworth et al., 1971, 1978).
Mary Ainsworth's (1971, 1978) observational study of individual differences in attachment is described beneath.
Foreign Situation Procedure
The security of attachment in ane- to two-twelvemonth-olds were investigated using the strange situation paradigm, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviors and styles of zipper.
Ainsworth developed an experimental process in order to observe the variety of attachment forms exhibited between mothers and infants.
The experiment is fix in a pocket-sized room with one fashion glass so the behavior of the baby can be observed covertly. Infants were aged between 12 and 18 months. The sample comprised of 100 middle-course American families.
The procedure, known as the 'Strange Situation,' was conducted by observing the behavior of the infant in a series of eight episodes lasting approximately 3 minutes each:
(one) Mother, infant, and experimenter (lasts less than one infinitesimal).
(2) Mother and baby alone.
(3) A stranger joins the mother and infant.
(4) Mother leaves baby and stranger alone.
(5) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
(half-dozen) Mother leaves; infant left completely solitary.
(7) Stranger returns.
(8) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
Scoring
Scoring
Strange Situation classifications (i.e., attachment styles) are based primarily on 4 interaction behaviors directed toward the female parent in the ii reunion episodes (Ep. five & Ep. 8).
- Proximity and contacting seeking
- Contact maintaining
- Avoidance of proximity and contact
- Resistance to contact and comforting
The observer notes down the behavior displayed during 15-2d intervals and scores the behavior for intensity on a scale of one to 7.
Other behaviors observed included:
- Exploratory behaviors e.g., moving effectually the room, playing with toys, looking effectually the room.
- Search behaviors, e.g., following female parent to the door, banging on the door, orienting to the door, looking at the door, going to mother's empty chair, looking at mother's empty chair.
- Touch on Displays negative, due east.1000., crying, smiling.
Results - Attachment Styles
Ainsworth (1970) identified 3 main zipper styles, secure (type B), insecure avoidant (type A) and insecure clashing/resistant (type C). She ended that these attachment styles were the issue of early interactions with the mother.
A fourth zipper way known as disorganized was subsequently identified (Master, & Solomon, 1990).
| Secure | Resistant | Avoidant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Separation Anxiety | Distressed when mother leaves | Intense distress when the mother leaves | No sign of distress when the the mother leaves |
| Stranger Feet | Avoidant of stranger when alone, merely friendly when the female parent is present | The infant avoids the stranger - shows fear of the stranger | The infant is okay with the stranger and plays normally when the stranger is present |
| Reunion behavior | Positive and happy when female parent returns | The infant approaches the mother, simply resists contact, may fifty-fifty push her away | The Infant shows petty interest when the female parent returns |
| Other | Uses the mother as a safe base to explore their environment | The infant cries more than and explores less than the other two types | The mother and stranger are able to comfort the baby equally well |
| % of infants | seventy% | 15% | 15% |
B: Secure Attachment
B: Secure Zipper
Securely attached children comprised the majority of the sample in Ainsworth's (1971, 1978) studies.
Such children feel confident that the attachment figure volition be bachelor to see their needs. They utilize the attachment figure as a safe base to explore the environment and seek the attachment figure in times of distress (Main, & Cassidy, 1988).
Securely fastened infants are easily soothed past the attachment figure when upset. Infants develop a secure attachment when the caregiver is sensitive to their signals, and responds appropriately to their needs.
According to Bowlby (1980), an private who has experienced a secure zipper 'is likely to possess a representational model of zipper figures(s) as beingness available, responsive, and helpful' (Bowlby, 1980, p. 242).
A: Insecure Avoidant
A: Insecure Avoidant
Insecure avoidant children do non orientate to their zipper effigy while investigating the environment.
They are very independent of the attachment figure both physically and emotionally (Behrens, Hesse, & Main, 2007).
They practise not seek contact with the attachment figure when distressed. Such children are likely to have a caregiver who is insensitive and rejecting of their needs (Ainsworth, 1979).
The zipper figure may withdraw from helping during difficult tasks (Stevenson-Hinde, & Verschueren, 2002) and is ofttimes unavailable during times of emotional distress.
C: Insecure Ambivalent / Resistant
C: Insecure Ambivalent
The 3rd attachment manner identified by Ainsworth (1970) was insecure clashing (also called insecure resistant).
Hither children adopt an ambivalent behavioral style towards the attachment effigy. The child will usually exhibit clingy and dependent behavior, but will be rejecting of the attachment effigy when they engage in interaction.
The kid fails to develop any feelings of security from the attachment figure. Appropriately, they showroom difficulty moving away from the attachment figure to explore novel surroundings.
When distressed they are difficult to soothe and are not comforted by interaction with the attachment figure. This behavior results from an inconsistent level of response to their needs from the primary caregiver.
Strange Situation Conclusion
Ainsworth (1978) suggested the 'caregiver sensitivity hypothesis' equally an explanation for dissimilar attachment types. Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues that a child's attachment mode is dependent on the behavior their mother shows towards them.
- 'Sensitive' mothers are responsive to the child's needs and respond to their moods and feelings correctly. Sensitive mothers are more than likely to have securely fastened children.
- In contrast, mothers who are less sensitive towards their child, for example, those who respond to the child's needs incorrectly or who are impatient or ignore the child, are likely to take insecurely fastened children.
For example, securely attached infant are associated with sensitive and responsive principal care. Insecure clashing attached infants are associated with inconsistent primary care. Sometimes the child'south needs and met, and sometimes they are ignored by the mother / father.
Insecure-avoidant infants are associated with unresponsive chief care. The child comes to believe that communication of needs has no influence on the mother/father.
Ainsworth's (1971, 1978) findings provided the first empirical evidence for Bowlby's zipper theory.
For example, deeply fastened children develop a positive working model of themselves and have mental representations of others as being helpful while viewing themselves as worthy of respect (Jacobsen, & Hoffman, 1997).
Avoidant children remember themselves unworthy and unacceptable, caused past a rejecting master caregiver (Larose, & Bernier, 2001). Ambivalent children have a negative self-epitome and exaggerate their emotional responses as a fashion to gain attending (Kobak et al., 1993).
Accordingly, insecure attachment styles are associated with an increased risk of social and emotional behavioral problems via the internal working model.
Theoretical Evaluation
This caregiver sensitivity theory is supported by research from, Wolff and Van Ijzendoorn (1997) who conducted a Meta-analysis (a review) of research into attachment types.
They found that at that place is a relatively weak correlation of 0.24 between parental sensitivity and attachment type – mostly more sensitive parents had securely attached children.
However, in evaluation, critics of this theory argue that the correlation between parental sensitivity and the child'south zipper type is only weak. This suggests that there are other reasons which may improve explicate why children develop unlike attachment types and that the maternal sensitivity theory places besides much accent on the mother.
Focusing only on maternal sensitivity when trying to explicate why children take unlike attachment types is, therefore, a reductionist approach.
An alternative theory proposed by Kagan (1984) suggests that the temperament of the kid is actually what leads to the different attachment types. Children with different innate (inborn) temperaments volition have different attachment types.
This theory is supported by research from Fox (1989) who establish that babies with an 'Easy' temperament (those who eat and slumber regularly, and have new experiences) are probable to develop secure attachments.
Babies with a 'slow to warm upwardly' temperament (those who took a while to get used to new experiences) are probable to have insecure-avoidant attachments. Babies with a 'Difficult' temperament (those who eat and sleep irregularly and who reject new experiences) are probable to take insecure-ambivalent attachments.
In determination, the nigh consummate explanation of why children develop different zipper types would exist an interactionist theory. This would fence that a child's zipper type is a result of a combination of factors – both the child'south innate temperament and their parent'south sensitivity towards their needs.
Belsky and Rovine (1987) propose an interesting interactionist theory to explicate the dissimilar attachment types. They argue that the child's attachment type is a result of both the child's innate temperament and too how the parent responds to them (i.due east., the parents' sensitivity level).
Additionally, the kid's innate temperament may, in fact, influence the way their parent responds to them (i.e, the infants' temperament influences the parental sensitivity shown to them). To develop a secure attachment, a 'difficult' child would need a caregiver who is sensitive and patient for a secure attachment to develop.
Methodological Evaluation
The foreign situation classification has been found to take practiced reliability. This means that information technology achieves consistent results. For case, a study conducted in Frg establish 78% of the children were classified in the same way at ages ane and 6 years (Wartner et al., 1994).
Although, every bit Melhuish (1993) suggests, the Strange Situation is the most widely used method for assessing baby attachment to a caregiver, Lamb et al. (1985) have criticized it for being highly artificial and therefore lacking ecological validity.
The child is placed in a strange and bogus environment, and the procedure of the mother and stranger entering and leaving the room follows a predetermined script.
Mary Ainsworth concluded that the strange situation could be used to identify the kid's type of attachment has been criticized on the grounds that information technology identifies only the type of attachment to the mother. The child may have a dissimilar blazon of zipper to the father or grandmother, for example (Lamb, 1977). This ways that information technology lacks validity, as it does not measure a full general zipper mode, simply instead an attachment way specific to the mother.
In improver, some research has shown that the same child may show different attachment behaviors on dissimilar occasions. Children's attachments may change, perhaps considering of changes in the child'south circumstances, so a securely attached child may appear insecurely attached if the mother becomes ill or the family circumstances modify.
The foreign situation has too been criticized on upstanding grounds. Considering the child is put nether stress (separation and stranger anxiety), the study has cleaved the ethical guideline protection of participants.
Even so, in its defence force, the separation episodes were curtailed prematurely if the child became too stressed. Also, according to Marrone (1998), although the Strange Situation has been criticized for being stressful, it is simulating everyday experiences, as mothers exercise go out their babies for brief periods of fourth dimension in different settings and ofttimes with unfamiliar people such as babysitters.
Finally, the study'southward sample is biased - comprising 100 center-class American families. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize the findings outside of America and to working-class families.
How to reference this article:
How to reference this article:
McLeod, South. A. (2018, August 05). Mary ainsworth. Only Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html
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How to reference this commodity:
How to reference this article:
McLeod, S. A. (2018, August 05). Mary ainsworth. But Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html
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