Discuss the strange situation as a way of assessing types of attachment. (16 marks)
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Course
Attachment
Institution
AQA
I finished my psychology A-level last year with an A*. I have compiled a list of improvised essays I done as mocks and each of these essays fall into band 4 (13-16 marks)
Discuss the strange situation as
a way of assessing types of
attachment. (16 marks)
Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation controlled observation to determine
attachment styles in 9-18 month old infants. A kid and their mother would be placed in a
novel environment of mild stress, where they would be monitored and videoed through
a one-way mirror during a series of eight distinct situations. The Strange Situation is
designed to assess four key behaviours: exploration behaviours (how the child explores
the environment and whether they use the mother as a safe base); separation anxiety
(how the child reacts to/behaves when the mother leaves the room); stranger anxiety
(how the child reacts in the presence of a stranger); and reunion behaviours (how the
child acts when reunited with their mother).
Depending on how the child reacts in the Strange Situation, he or she will be classified
as secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-resistant. Ainsworth discovered the following
attachment types in her original experiment: securely connected - 66%,
insecureavoidant - 22%, and insecure-resistant - 12%. Ainsworth's Strange Situation
has a methodological flaw in the type of observation she used, which was an overt
observation. The parents in Ainsworth's study were aware that they were being
observed through the one-way mirror and may have shown demand characteristics as a
result. This indicated that the mothers may have been unduly affectionate toward their
children because they thought this was what the circumstance required of them. As a
result, the children's behaviour may have been affected, lowering the experiment's
internal validity and making the Strange Situation a less valid technique of gauging
attachment.
Ainsworth's Strange Situation also displays a cultural prejudice. Her theory and
methodology were centred on Western ideals of infant behaviour, with a higher
proportion of children from other cultures classified as insecureavoidant (e.g., Japan) or
insecure-resistant (e.g. Germany). As a result, the Strange Situation may not be a
reliable technique of gauging attachment in non-American cultures. The Strange
Situation method of determining attachment type, on the other hand, is believed to be
highly reliable. The observations were conducted utilising predetermined behavioural
Discuss the strange situation as a way of assessing types of attachment. (16 marks) 1
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