What Is Resulting From Ainsworth Strange Situation Experiments?

When we think of the word attachment, we might think of mother and child or even human and pet relationships. Generally, attachment is quite often defined as love, affection and even devotion. In attachment theory however, it is defined as a tie or a bond between two individuals (Prior and Glaser, 2006). Adults may be reciprocal and mutual in terms of attachment but the relationship between infants and parents is not as such. This distinction is based on the fact that attachment is a bond based on the need for security, safety and protection. Hence, infants attach to their caregivers instinctively. This supports the biological purpose to promote survival, and ultimately the continuation of the species (ibid.) Thus, this essay firstly explains

Firstly, there is the secure attachment style. According to Feldman (2013), infants who exhibit this style in strange situation experiments were securely attached to their mother and feel comfortable around her. They occasionally explore the room but tend to return to their mother often and feel distressed in the absence of her. When she returns, the infants seek comfort and close bodily contact with her (Prior and Glaser, 2006). The next attachment style is the insecure-avoidant attachment. Insecure-avoidant infants explore more frequently than securely attached infants in strange situation experiments. Also, they tend to show minimal response when separated from their mother and even show avoidant behaviour towards her such as averting her gaze. When picked up, the infants are not clingy and do not resist release (ibid.). Moreover, there is the ambivalent attachment style where infants who exhibit this style display immediate distress and anxiety when separation from their mother occurs. However, they show ambivalent behaviour, meaning both contact-resisting and contact-seeking behaviour towards their mother when she returns (ibid.). For example, they might combine kicking and hitting while clinging on to her. Then, there is the disorganized attachment style. According to D. Shemmings and Y. Shemmings (2011), infants who acted strangely and oddly during strange situation experiments were categorized under this attachment style. Some of these infants would move towards their mother then suddenly stop moving for a few seconds. There were also infants in this category who would move towards their mother while holding their hands up in front of their faces as if they were shielding themselves from something (ibid.). These infants showed inconsistent behaviour which contradicts the behaviour of other infants