Types of Attachment

Secure infants used their mother as a safe base and were happy to explore the room when she was present. They showed distress by crying when she left, and welcomed her back on her return, settling back down to play fairly quickly. They were wary of the stranger and treated them very differently to their mother. 70% of babies fell into this category. 15% of the babies fell into insecure-avoidant type of attachment. In this type of attachment infants did not orient their behaviour towards their mother in the same way. They showed little distress at separation but did not seek comfort from the mother when she returned. They also rejected the stranger’s attempts to comfort them. The relationship style of these infants involved keeping a distance and avoiding closeness. The last type of attachment in Strange Situation was insecure-resistant where infants were very upset at separation but were not easily comforted when the mother returned. They appeared to be angry and rejected mother’s attempts to comfort them. These infants changed between seeking closeness and wanting distance. 15% of the babies fell into this category.

There are number of factors that influence the development of secure and insecure attachments, including maternal sensitivity, infant temperament and emotional availability. Bowlby says that responding to the needs of the infant is very important in developing attachments – more secure attachments form with more responsive caregivers. Infants can be categorised according to their temperaments, Thomas and Chess suggested. There are easy babies, difficult babies and slow-to-warm-up babies. Slow-to-warm-up babies and difficult babies are obviously harder to cope with and this affects the emotional bond between the caregiver and the infant. Emotional availability refers to the quality of emotional interaction between the mother and the child. This is where the parent needs to understand the emotional experience of the child and respond consequently.

The theoretical basis of most of the attachment research is that secure attachment in infancy will predict good psycho-social outcomes in later years. However, many other factors can be expected to modify the impact of secure attachment on later functioning, including cultural variations of attachment, psychosocial circumstances, factors within the child (e.g. child temperament), and intergenerational transmission of values and beliefs. The fact that securely attached infants are thought to have a healthy emotional and social development is supported by evidence that they tend to become popular and confident social leaders (Stroufe, 1983). This research shows that the attachment types identified by the 'Strange Situation' have validity. Repetition of the procedure later in life produces the same results in infants, so the method also has reliability. However, some critics have argued that Ainsworth’s research lacks validity because of the strange and unfamiliar nature of the playroom, which wasn’t the child’s home. But the situation itself is similar to many that children may experience such as being left at nursery suggesting that the method may provide a valid measure of the infant’s response to separations.