Question

What was mary ainsworth trying to determine when she devised an experimental method called the strange situation?

Answer 1

Answer: The nature of attachment between caretakers and infants

Explanation:

Mary Ainsworth´s  Strange Situation Classification (SSC) was an assessment technique devised to examine how attachments may differ between children, analyzing the nature of attachment behaviors and the different styles of attachment. The procedure included the observation of the behavior of infants aged between 12 and 18 months, in a sample composed of 100 middle-class American families.

Answer 2

Mary Ainsworth when she devised an experimental method called the strange situation; she was trying to observe the different attachment relationships. She observed the relationship between a caregiver and a child. She tried the experiment on children aging 12 to 24 months. The attachment styles are secure, insecure avoidant, secure ambivalent and disorganized/disoriented. In the procedure that she had organized, she let the child play for 20 minutes while the caregivers and strangers enter the room. In this case, she observed on what were the child’s reactions to the recreation of flow of the familiar and unfamiliar presence in his/ her life.