During the 1970’s. psychologist Mary Ainsworth farther expanded upon Bowlby’s groundbreaking work in her now-famous “Strange Situation” survey. The survey involved detecting kids between the ages of 12 to 18 months reacting to a state of affairs in which they were briefly left entirely and so reunited with their female parent ( Ainsworth. 1978 ) . Based on these observations. Ainsworth concluded that there were three major manners of fond regard: secure fond regard. ambivalent-insecure fond regard. and avoidant-insecure fond regard.
Research workers Main and Solomon ( 1986 ) added a 4th attachment manner known as disorganized-insecure fond regard. Numerous surveies have supported Ainsworth’s decisions and extra research has revealed that these early fond regard manners can assist foretell behaviors subsequently in life. Ainsworth and Wittig devised the unusual state of affairs to be able to prove the nature of fond regard consistently. The purpose was to see how babies that were aged between 9 and 18 months behave under conditions of mild emphasis and besides freshness.
Stress is created in the unusual state of affairss by the presence of a alien and by separation from a health professional. This tests stranger anxiousness and separation anxiousness severally. The unusual state of affairs besides aims to promote geographic expedition by puting babies in a fresh state of affairs and therefore tests the secure base construct. The research room is a fresh environment. a 9 ten 9 pes square marked off into 16 squares to assist in entering the infant’s motions. The process consists of eight episodes. each designed to foreground certain behaviors.
In the unusual state of affairs informations is collected by a group of perceivers who record what the baby is making every 15 seconds. The perceiver notes down which of the undermentioned behavior is displaced and besides scores the behavior for strength on a graduated table of 1 to 7. Ainsworth et Al combined the informations from several surveies. to do a sum of 106 in-between – category babies observed in the unusual state of affairs. They found similarities and differences in the manner that infants behaved. In footings of similarity it was noted that explorative behaviors declined in all babies from episode 2 onwards. whereas the sum of shouting increased.
Proximity- seeking and contact maintaining behaviors intensified during separation and when the alien appeared. Contact – resisting and propinquity – avoiding behaviors occurred seldom towards the health professional prior to separation. In footings of differences. they found three chief types of kids. originally called A. B and C to avoid any descriptive labels. The feature of the chief fond regards types. with regard to the unusual state of affairs are unafraid fond regard. insecure – avoidant. insecure – resistant and the 4th fond regard type proposed by Main and Solomon ( 1986 ) is called the insecure – disorganised.
A unfavorable judgment of this survey is that there were demand features present. this is when participants try to do sense of the research state of affairs that they are in and hence adjust their behavior harmonizing to it. The demand features present in the unusual state of affairs are that female parents would alter their behavior in order to look as a good female parent in forepart of the experimenter. This is a job because it means that the consequences obtained aren’t based on natural behavior by the participants therefore impacting the decisions gathered from the survey.
Another unfavorable judgment of this survey is that this was a lab experiment which means that the survey has low ecological cogency. This is because control can be exerted onto the participants by the experimenter ensuing in the survey missing everyday pragmatism. This is a job because it means that the consequences can non be generalised across other people. However there is besides an advantage of a lab experiment which is that the experiment would be conducted under controlled conditions therefore doing the experiment more strict and dependable as external factors can be controlled.
Since this survey merely used middle- category north Americans. this becomes a large disadvantage of this survey. This is because it decreases the population cogency which is the extent to which the consequences from this research can be generalized across other groups of people in society. This is a job because it means that these consequences can non be used against other people who are non middle-class north Americans therefore diminishing the cogency of these consequences.
An advantage of this survey is that it is really influential as it enables us to measure whether or non kids are firmly attached and how this attachment type relates to later behavior. For illustration if a kid is insecurely attached at childhood so subsequently on at maturity the kid could hold job attaching to person else eg. husband/child. This is a benefit as it enables us to find which behavior caused by parents at a child’s early age causes a kid to go firmly and insecurely attached therefore forestalling any dysfunctional behavior in maturity.
A unfavorable judgment of this survey is that the child’s behavior has to be observed by person in order to make up one’s mind what the kid is making. This decreases the dependability which is whether the consequences measured are consistent because there could be a difference of sentiment. For illustration one individual could state that the kid is seeking and rejecting nevertheless another individual may state that the kid is merely seeking. This is a job as people can hold different opinions therefore this survey has low dependability as who can state which sentiment is right and which isn’t. It is excessively reliant for single opinion.
