What are the criticisms of the Strange Situation?

A major criticism of the Strange Situation procedure is that it has focused almost exclusively on the mother-infant bond. In part, this may reflect a cultural bias. Many people who study attachment come from industrialized societies where mothers usually bear most of the responsibility for infant care.

What are the main criticisms of the Strange Situation procedure?

Mary Ainsworth concluded that the strange situation could be used to identify the child's type of attachment but has been criticized because it identifies only the type of attachment to the mother. The child may have a different type of attachment to the father or grandmother, for example (Lamb, 1977).

What are the weaknesses of the strange situation experiment?

Furthermore, another criticism of the strange situation is that it lacks ecological validity. Ainsworth conducted her observation in a controlled environment, and therefore the children may have acted differently to how they would act in a more familiar environment.

What is a limitation of the Strange Situation?

Secondly, the variables measured in the strange situation may be limited as they do not account for the temperament of the child or other potential environmental factors which may influence the child's attachment type.

What are the major criticisms of attachment theory?

Critics contend that assuming an infant must form a single bond is damaging to the relationship between infants and other potential caregivers in their life. Others take issue with the idea that unless the attachment is formed by age two, a person is doomed to have an insecure attachment style forever.

The Attachment Theory: How Childhood Affects Life

Who criticised the attachment theory?

Harris disagrees with the nurture assumption as well. Peers have a lot of influence on a child's personality, just as the child's environment does. Field also criticizes the attachment model because believes there are many limitations to it.

Which statement is a major criticism of attachment theory quizlet?

Which of the following is a major criticism of attachment theory? It overstates the mother's influence and understates the child's influence on the quality of attachment.

What are the criticisms of Ainsworth study?

While Ainsworth's research has found support in subsequent studies, it has also met criticism. Some researchers have pointed out that a child's temperament may have a strong influence on attachment, and others have noted that attachment varies from culture to culture, a factor not accounted for in Ainsworth's research.

Why does the Strange Situation lack validity?

The strange situation lacks validity-Kagan et al(1986) suggested that attachment type is more related to temperament than to the relationship with the primary attachment figure.In this case the strange situation can be seen to be measuring anxiety rather than attachment.

Is the Strange Situation culturally biased?

The Strange Situation was created and tested in the USA, which means that it may be culturally biased ( ethnocentric ), as it will reflect the norms and values of American culture. For example, the belief that attachment is related to anxiety on separation. This may not be the case in other cultures, e.g. Japan.

What is one limitation of using the Strange Situation to investigate attachment?

On the other hand, a disadvantage of Ainsworth's strange situation is its low external validity. As a result of the experiment occurring in an artificial environment, the data cannot be easily applied to the outside world. The artificial environment may have caused the child distress and therefore affected the results.

Is the Strange Situation ethical?

The Strange Situation Experiment (Ainsworth and Bell, 1970) was criticised on ethical grounds due to the distress caused to the children on separation from their parent, as were various cultural variations on the experiment (Takahashi, 1986) which did not take into consideration the influences of cultural differences ...

What are the pros of the Strange Situation?

Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment is important because it has led to a greater understanding of attachment styles and their impact on human behavior. It has also helped researchers to identify the different types of attachment that infants may form with their caregiver.

What is the confounding variable in the Strange Situation?

- Temperament may act as a confounding variable in the Strange Situation. Ainsworth assumed main influence on separation and stranger anxiety was quality of attachment. Kagan, 1982, suggests temperament and thus the genetic personality of the child is a more important influence on behaviour in the Strange Situation.

Why do researchers use the Strange Situation?

Her creation of the Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) provided a gold standard for identifying and classifying individual differences in infant attachment security (and insecurity) and ushered in decades of research examining the precursors and outcomes of individual differences in infant ...

Which of the following is a criticism of the Strange Situation method developed by Ainsworth?

Which of the following is a criticism of the Strange Situation method developed by Ainsworth to measure attachment? It fails to account for important cultural features that are necessary for accurately understanding the meanings of attachment behaviors.

Which theory of attachment is the most widely accepted view?

The view that is widely accepted today is the ethological theory of attachment.

What is one criticism of a learning theory explanation of attachment 3 marks?

Schaffer and Emerson's research showed that babies did not necessarily become attached to whoever fed them the most, rather, who spent time sensitively responding to them. This weakens the assumption of learning theory.

What is one criticism of the learning theory explanation of attachment 4 marks?

Another critique of the learning theory is its overemphasis on the role of food in attachment. Conflicting evidence, such as Harlow's study, argues that comfort might play a more significant role than food in attachment formation.

What does the strange situation measure?

The Strange Situation experimental procedure was developed by Ainsworth and her colleagues in the 1970s. The procedure was developed in order to measure the quality of infant attachments in 1-2 year olds.

What is the general research conclusion regarding the strange situation?

Strange Situation Applications

Studies indicated security as the normative pattern cross-culturally, but variations have been detected regarding the distributions among insecure groups and have been attributed to cultural differences in maternal behavior and childrearing practices.

What is the strange situation method?

The strange situation is a procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s to observe attachment in children, that is relationships between a caregiver and child. It applies to children between the age of nine and 30 months.

What are three strengths of the Strange Situation study?

Why is it called the Strange Situation?

The test is called The Strange Situation Technique because it is conducted in a context that is unfamiliar to the child and therefore likely to heighten the child's need for his or her parent (Ainsworth, 1979).

What is one limitation of the strange situation apart from ethical issues?

One limitation of the strange situation is the occurrence of demand characteristics. The mothers are aware that they are being observed by psychologists. The mothers' behaviour may change as a result of trying to guess what the psychologist is looking at/observing.