Describe the Strange Situation. Identify and describe secure attachment and the three patterns of insecure attachment

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Strange Situation is a widely used laboratory technique designed by Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues for assessing the quality of attachment between 1 and 2 years of age. The Strange Situation takes a baby through eight short episodes in which brief separations from and reunions with the caregiver occur. Although separation anxiety varies among the groups, the baby's reunion responses define attachment quality.
– Secure attachment. These infants use the parent as a secure base. When separated they may or may not cry, but if they do, it is because the parent is absent and they prefer her to the stranger. When the parent returns, they actively seek contact, and their crying is reduced immediately.
– Avoidant attachment. These infants seem unresponsive to the parent when she is present. When she leaves, they usually are not distressed, and they react to the stranger in much the same way as to the parent. During reunion, they avoid or are slow to greet the parent, and when picked up, they often fail to cling.
– Resistant attachment. Before separation, these infants seek closeness to the parent and often fail to explore. When the parent leaves, they are usually distressed, and on her return they combine clinginess with angry, resistive behavior, struggling when held and sometimes hitting and pushing. Many continue to cry and cling after being picked up and cannot be comforted easily.
– Disorganized/disoriented attachment. This pattern reflects the greatest insecurity. At reunion, these infants show confused, contradictory behaviors—for example, looking away while the parent is holding them or approaching the parent with flat, depressed emotion. Most display a dazed facial expression, and a few cry out unexpectedly after having calmed down or display odd, frozen postures.