Ainsworth Strange Situation Studies

Ainsworth rum event Studies The Strange particular mathematical process, developed by American psychologist bloody shame Ainsworth, is widely used in small fry cultivation search. Much research in psychology has concentrate on how forms of holdfast differ between babys. For example, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) spy what appeared to be innate differences in sociability in babies some babies preferred cuddling more than differents, from in truth early on, before much interaction had occurred to move such differences.Its easy enough to hunch when you are attached to some nonpareil because you know how you touch when you are apart from that person, and, being an adult, you can site your feelings into words and describe how it feels. However, most attachment research is carried out using sisters and young kidskinren, so psychologists draw to devise subtle ways of researching attachment, involving the observational method. utilise the Strange Situation procedure, many re searchers have analyze the development of child attachment to the give and other caregivers.However, there continues to be much debate some the origins of the childs reaction in the Strange Situation, and about what factors determine the development of an babys attachment relationships. The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds was investigated by Ainsworth and Bell (1970) in the _ extraneous military post_ learn, in hostel to determine the nature of attachment deportments and types of attachment. Ainsworth (1970) developed an experimental procedure in order to observe the novelty of attachment forms exhibited between caregivers and infants.The experiment is set up in a small room with one way glass so the conduct of the infant can be observed. Infants were mount upd between 12 and 18 months. The sample comprised about 100 in-between class American families. The procedure, known as the _Strange Situation_, was conducted by observing the behaviour of the caregive r and the infant in a serial of seven 3-minute episodes, as follows (1) put forward and infant alone. (2) Stranger joins parent and infant. (3) Parent leaves infant and strange alone. (4) Parent returns and stranger leaves. (5) Parent leaves infant left completely alone. 6) Stranger returns. (7) Parent returns and stranger leaves. Psychologist Mary Ainsworth devised an assessment technique called the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) in order to investigate how attachments energy vary between children. The goal of the Strange Situation procedure was to provide an environment that would arouse in the infant both the motivation to explore and the contract to seek security. An observer (often a researcher or therapist) takes a suffer and her child (usually around the age of 12 months) to an unfamiliar room containing toys.A series of eight separations and reunions are staged involving mild, but cumulative, variant for the infant. Separation in such an unfamiliar set would also likely activate the childs attachmentsystem and allow for a direct test of its functioning. Although no single behaviour can be used to assess the eccentric of the infants attachment to the caregiver, the pattern of the infants responses to the changing situation is of evoke to psychologists. The validation of the procedure and its scoring method were grounded in the naturalistic observation of the childs exploration, crying, and proximity-seeking in the home.Ainsworths research revealed secern individual differences among children, demonstrated by the childs reaction to the mothers return. Ainsworth reason these responses into three major types Anxious/avoidantthe child whitethorn not be distressed at the mothers digression and may avoid or turn extraneous from her on her return Securely attachedthe child is distressed by the mothers departure and easily soothed by her on her return Anxious/resistantthe child may stay extremely close to the mother during the first few mi nutes and become passing distressed at her departure.When she returns, the child will at the resembling time seek both comfort and distance from the mother. The childs behaviour will be characterised by crying and comer to be held and then attempting to leave once picked up. Strengths The strange situation classification has become the accepted methodological analysis worldwide for measuring attachment (re Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, 1988) Ainsworth, M. babyhood in Uganda Infant Care and the Growth of Love. Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967.Periodicals Spock, Benjamin. Mommy, Dont Go Parenting 10, June-July 1996, pp. 86+. Weaknesses In addition, some research has shown that the same child may show different attachment behaviours on different occasions. Childrens attachments may change, perhaps because of changes in the childs circumstances, so a securely attached child may appear insecurely attached if the mother becomes ill or the family circumstances change. The strange situation has also been criticised on ethica grounds.Because the child is put below stress (separation and stranger anxiety), the study has broken the respectable guideline protection of participants. The sample is biased -100 middle class American families. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings orthogonal of America and to working class families. Finally, the observational study has been criticised for having low ecological validity. Because the child is place in a strange and artificial environment, due to the the procedure of the mother and stranger following a regulate script.