The Strange Situation - Ainsworth and Wittig (1969)

The Strange Situation 

Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) devised the strange situation to be able to test the nature of attachment systematically. The aim was to see how infants (aged between 9 and 18 months) behave under conditions of mild stress and also novelty. Stress is created in the strange situation by the presence of a stranger and by separation from a caregiver. This tests stranger anxiety and separation anxiety respectively. The strange situation also aims to encourage exploration by placing infants in a novel situation and thus tests the secure base concept. 

Procedure 

The research room is a novel environment, a 9x9 foot square marked off into 16 squares to help in recording the infant's movements.The procedure consists of eight episodes:

1. Parent and infant play

2. Parent sits while infant plays

3. Stranger enters and talks to parent

4. Parent leaves, infant plays, stranger offers comfort if needed

5. Parent returns, greets infant, offers comfort if needed; stranger leaves

6. Parent leaves, infant alone

7. Stranger enters and offers comfort

8. Parent returns, greets infant, offers comfort

In the strange situation data is collected by a group of observers who record what the infant is doing every 15 seconds. The observer notes down which of the following behaviours is displayed and also scores the behaviour intensity on a scale of 1 to 7: (1) proximity and contact-seeking behaviours, (2) contact-maintaining behaviours, (3) proximity and interaction-avoiding behaviours, (4) contact and interaction-resisting behaviours, (5) search behaviours.

Findings

Ainsworth et al (1978)  combined the data from several studies to make a total of 106 middle-class infants observed in the strange situation. The found similarities and differences in the ways that infants behaved. In terms of similarity it was noted that exploratory behaviours declined in all infants from episode 2 onwards, whereas the amount of crying increased. Proximity-seeking and contact-maintaining behaviours intensified during separation and when the stranger appeared. Contact-resisting and proximity-avoiding behaviours occurred rarely towards the caregiver prior to separation. In terms of differences, they found three main types of children, originally called A,B and C to avoid any description labels. However they are now:

- The secure attachment: refers to those who have harmonious and cooperative interactions with their caregiver. They are not likely to cry if the caregiver leaves the room. When feeling anxious they seek close bodily contact with their caregiver and are easily soothed, though they may be reluctant to leave their caregiver's side prematurely. They seek and are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy. The infant uses the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore and thus is able to function independently.

- The insecure-avoidant: (anxious) style of attachment is characterised by children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others. In the strange situation such children show little response to separation and do not seek the proximity to their caregiver on reunion.

- The insecure-resistant: (ambivalent) style charactersitics those who both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction. Such children respond to separation from their caregiver with immediate and intense distress. On reunion, such children display conflicting desires for and against contact, they may angrily resist being picked up while also trying other means to maintain proximity.

All three of Ainsworth's attachment types show relatively consistent patterns of behaviours. However re-analysis of over 200 strange situation videotapes Led Main and Solomon (1986) proposed a forth attachment type:

- The insecure-disorganised: type which is characterised by a lack of consistent patterns of social behaviour. Such infants lack a coherent strategy for dealing with the stress of separation.