Outline and Evaluate Ainsworth's Strange Situation (12 Marks)

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The strange situation was devised in order to measure and test the nature of attachment between an infant and their caregiver. The strange situation was used to see how infants react under stressful situations such as separation from the caregiver (causing separation anxiety) and also the presence of a stranger (stranger anxiety). It also aimed to encourage exploration by putting the infants into a novel situation and thus testing the secure base concept of Bowlby's theory of attachment. Observers watched the behaviours displayed between the infants and caregiver from behind one way mirrors and collected data every 15 seconds on various different criteria, they also measured the intensity of the behaviour on a scale of 1-7. The strange situation procedure consisted of 8 different episodes that were devised to highlight/provoke certain behaviours. Some of the behaviours included the parent leaving the room, and stranger being presented and the parent returning. The data was then collected from several studies and the results combined to make a total of 106 middle-class infants that were observed. They found that 62% of the children showed secure attachment, 15% insecure-avoidant, 15% insecure-disorganized and 8% insecure-resistant. The biggest flaw of Ainsworth's strange situation is the fact that it may not measure the attachment type of the infant but rather the quality of the relationship between the infant and caregiver. A study conducted by Main and Weston concluded that infants behave differently depending on which parent they are with. This could mean that the strange situation doesn't fully measure what it is supposed to which ultimately decreases the validity of the strange situation as a measurement of attachment type. However it could be argued that the only relationship that matters is that of your primary caregiver which is the parent that partakes

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