Question

Summarize Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation experiment/results

Answer 1

The results of Ainsworth’s strange situation experiment revealed different classifications of attachment behaviour:

1. Secure attachment, displayed by about 65% to 75% of the experiment’s participants, was characterised by the child’s confidence in the caregiver’s availability and responsiveness. In the strange situation experiment, these children may or may not cry, acknowledge the return of their mother’s return, and returns to play when comforted.

2. Insecure-avoidant attachment, displayed by 10% - 15% of the participants, was characterised the child’s lack of confidence in the caregiver’s availability and responsiveness. These children are less likely to cry during the first separation, may ignore the mother’s return, may approach the mother and turn away and may continue to play without acknowledging the mother.

3. Insecure-resistant attachment, displayed by 15% - 20% of the participants, was also characterised by the child’s lack of confidence in the caregiver’s availability and responsiveness. Such children display hard crying during separation, cry to be held and resist being put down, have a weak or absent approach when the mother returns and are unable to return to good quality play.

4. Insecure-disorganised attachment, displayed by less than 5% of the participants, was characterised by odd and out of context behaviour, the interpretation of which is still under analysis.