Strange Situation Study

Reading upon Chapter 3, i felt it was quite interesting to find out about Ainsworth's case study. Mary Ainsworth is an American developmental pyschologist who worked on the Attachment Theory. The attachment theory was based mostly on the relationship between the individual and the caregiver. Ainsworth conducted an experiment based on this theory called "Strange Situation". The mother first bring her child into a room where they play together. After that , a stranger is put in the same room as the mother and child. The mother then attempts to leave the baby with the stranger. The mother have a reunion with their child after and the stranger leaves. Then, the mother would leave the child alone for three minutes. The case records the outcome of how the baby reacted when they was left alone with the stranger and when the baby was by themselves. From this Ainsworth divided the babies to three categories; secure attached (when they fuss if the caregiver is not present or available), avoidant insecurely attached ( where the child acts the same way whether the mother is present or not), and ambivalent insecurely attached ( resisting caregiver at reunions but fuss when the caregiver leaves).

In this video, it shows that the child is securely attached since the boy cries when the mother left, and stopped when she was present and in contact. However, it is arguable to how these three categories came to be. One factor could be environmental, where the child observes a certain behavior that can influence the baby to be more independent or dependent. It can also be how the mother treats the child either during that type of activity, or with any activity in general. The baby's need may not be to play with toys, but to be fed thus seemily be insecure attached when its normally secured attached.Nevertheless, it is still a fundamental idea that can help predict how the child will react socially in the future and making steps into encouraging or changing their behavior.