What types of attachment did Ainsworth identify using the Strange Situation?
Types of attachment: secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant. Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Research into types of attachment.
Covers AQA 4.3 types of attachment: Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure, the behaviours measured, and the three attachment types (secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant).
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to describe Ainsworth's Strange Situation, the behaviours it measures and the three attachment types it identifies. The exam skill is to know the procedure and the five behaviours, to distinguish the three types (especially at reunion), and to evaluate the method's reliability and validity.
The procedure
The Strange Situation was designed to measure the quality of an infant's attachment under standardised conditions. The infant and caregiver enter an unfamiliar playroom, and across about eight three-minute episodes the infant experiences a series of mild stressors: exploring the room, a stranger entering and approaching, the caregiver leaving (separation), the caregiver returning (reunion), and being left briefly alone. Trained observers watch through a one-way mirror and code five behaviours: proximity-seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, and the reunion response. Because the procedure is highly controlled and standardised, it can be replicated, and inter-observer reliability is typically very high (Ainsworth reported agreement around 0.94), which is a strength. The main validity concern is that the procedure was developed and validated in the USA, so applying it across cultures may impose Western norms (the imposed-etic problem discussed in cultural variations), and it measures attachment to one specific caregiver rather than a general trait of the child.
The three types
The three types are best learned through the pattern of behaviour across exploration, anxiety and reunion. Secure (Type B) infants use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore, show moderate separation and stranger anxiety, and are readily comforted on reunion; Ainsworth linked this to sensitive, responsive caregiving (the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis). Insecure-avoidant (Type A) infants explore freely with little reference to the caregiver, show low anxiety when the caregiver leaves or a stranger appears, and avoid or ignore the caregiver at reunion, a pattern linked to unresponsive caregiving. Insecure-resistant (Type C) infants explore little and stay close, show high stranger and separation anxiety, and at reunion both seek and resist comfort (the classic image of reaching to be picked up then arching away), linked to inconsistent caregiving. The reunion behaviour is the single most reliable discriminator between the types and is the detail examiners most often test.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20194 marksOutline the procedure of Ainsworth's Strange Situation.Show worked answer →
A 4-mark AO1 procedure item. Markers want a controlled observation with episodes and the behaviours observed.
The Strange Situation is a controlled observation in a novel, unfamiliar room, run as a series of around eight three-minute episodes. These include the caregiver and infant entering, the infant exploring, a stranger entering, the caregiver leaving (separation), the caregiver returning (reunion), and the infant being left alone. Trained observers watched through a one-way mirror and recorded behaviours including proximity-seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, and the reunion response.
A full-mark answer states it is a controlled observation, mentions the staged episodes including separation and reunion, and lists the behaviours measured.
AQA 20216 marksDescribe the three attachment types identified by Ainsworth and explain how they differ at reunion.Show worked answer →
A 6-mark item, roughly 4 AO1 (the types) and 2 AO2 (reunion contrast).
Secure (Type B, about 60 to 75%): the infant explores using the caregiver as a secure base, shows moderate separation and stranger anxiety, and is easily comforted at reunion. Insecure-avoidant (Type A, about 20 to 25%): the infant explores freely, shows low separation and stranger anxiety, and avoids or ignores the caregiver at reunion. Insecure-resistant (Type C, about 3%): the infant explores little, shows high separation and stranger anxiety, and at reunion seeks contact but resists it (for example reaching to be held then pushing away).
The reunion contrast is the clearest discriminator: secure infants are comforted, avoidant infants ignore the caregiver, resistant infants want but reject comfort. Markers reward all three types with the reunion behaviour distinguished.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Psychology (7182) specification — AQA (2015)