What does infants` behaviour in the “Strange
Situation” tells us about their future psychological
development
Children`s attachment to the caregiver plays a very important role in their future
development. Ainsworth and Bell (1970) developed a procedure that measures the
mother-child attachment quality. This test is called the “Strange Situation”. It was
expanded by Main & Solomon(1990). It observes the infants` behavour in a strange
room, while their mother is present, while there is a stranger and the mother is still
present, while left alone with the stranger, when left completely alone and on reunion
with the mother. Four main types of reaction are observed. They can be divided into two
main groups-securely and insecurely attached children. Securely attached children
(Type B) readily explore the room and play while the mother is there, they react
positively to the stranger, while the mother is present, but once she is gone they show
distress. On reunion they seek proximity to the mother, because she is their “secure
base” and they are easily calmed down. This is the largest type of attachment. Typically
parents are responsive and sensitive to the infant’s needs. There are three types of
attachment in the second group of children-insecure-avoidant (Type A), insecureresistant (type C) and insecure-disorganized (Type D).Infants, who are classified as
insecure-avoidant type readily explore the room and show no particular distress ,when
left with the stranger or alone. On reunion they have “avoidant” behavior; they do not
seek proximity to their mother. Usually, these infants` parenting is rejecting. The next
type of attachment concerns children with insecure-resistant attachments. They do not
explore the room and show clingy behavior towards the mother. On separation they are
intensely distressed, but in reunion they show ambivalent behavior-they seek proximity
to the mother and then resist it. In these case parent`s behavior towards the child can
be defined as ambivalent-sometimes they are warm and sensitive, but sometimes
rejecting. The last type- Type D was added by Main and Solomon (1990) and it is very
rare. These children have unusual and extremely disorganized behavior. They may
appear frightened, depressed or sometimes even freezing and they are unable to cope
with the situation. Parenting is said to be neglectful or even abusive. (Ainsworth & Bell,
1970)
These patterns of attachment have complex causes. They may depend on parental
attitude, social environment or child`s temperament. However, these types of
attachment can predict some main features in the future psychological development of
the child .For example securely attached children are more likely to have better social
skills and higher self esteem (Cassidy, 1994), while insecurely attached children tend to
be less sociable, and with lower self esteem, more aggressive or even disruptive
behavior is possible as well.
Many studies have examined mother-child attachment quality (Ainsworth, Blehar,
Waters & Wall, 1978).They support the hypothesis that the infants` behaviour in the
“Strange Situation” can predict some of their future personal and interpersonal
characteristics. But what exactly does this behaviour tell us about their future
development. What behaviour in later age is typical for the secure and unsecure
children? And how do the mother and the environment can affect that?
As in the “Strange Situation “infants use their mother as a “secure base to explore to
room”, after a few years time she would be a secure base to explore the world (Waters
& Cummings,2000). The securely attached children develop self confidence that there
are loved and protected. They learn they deserve it and in addition to that, they know
they can rely on and trust to other people. They learn also to be with positive attitude
and confident in their decisions and actions. According to Maccoby (1980) these
children will develop better social skills and intellectual curiosity. The security in their
early years may also make them more empathic, compliant and persistent (Maccoby,
1980).Studies on this type of mother-child attachment show that these infants are likely
to be more constructive and cooperative (Kochanska, Aksan & Carlson, 2005).
Securely-attached children are better in forming social relationships; they may have
more stable and harmonious relationship with the people around them than the
insecurely attached children. (Cassidy, 1994).These children are also better in handling
negative emotions and coping with negative situations. This could due to the fact that
they were encouraged to express these feelings in the secure relationship, so they
managed to learn how to deal with negative feelings in their every-day life,for the years
to come.(Cassidy,1994).This attachment comes from the mother`s availability, from the
way she responses to the baby`s needs –sensitively and supportively.
Unfortunately insecurely-attached children learn very different lesson (Thornton,
2008).These children have low self-esteem and consider themselves as unworthy of
being loved. Their social and communicational skills are poorer than those of securelyattached children. Forming of friendships is more difficult for them and they are less
willing to communicate with their peers in pre-school age and even after that (Park &
Waters, 1989). As they are used to be rejected or have some doubts about their
mother`s behaviour, they do not know what to expect and how to react to other people,
so they often think they would be rejected or avoided by them, that is why, they cannot
easily trust somebody else and they do not know that they can rely on somebody
else.(Cassidy,1994).According to Lewis(1984) insecurely-attached boys may develop
some kind of depression or social withdrawal. Fagot confirmed that, by stating that
insecurely-attached boys have more internalizing problems, while insecurely attached
girls have more externalizing problems. Studies also show that these children are more
lonely (Berlin, Cassidy & Belsky,1994).Compared to the securely attached children
,they tend to be significantly less purposive, goal-directed and achievement
orientated(Oppenheim, Sagi & Lamb,1988).They may appear less independent
(Sroufe,1983).Sometimes they show higher levels of aggression (Cassidy,1994)and
they are not able to handle negative emotions or events very well(Fagot, 1990).The
inability to manage may due to the fact that the expression of these emotions when they
were younger was problematic in their relationship with the mother –they could have
been punished by the mother`s criticism or withdrawal ,when expressing them
(Cassidy,1994).It also appears that for children who showed insecure behavior in the
“strange situation” it is more difficult to form a stable and harmonious relationships . The
insecure –disorganized children are even more insecure and with even more negative
attitude towards many life aspects. They are also more likely to show some kind of
psychological disorder such as eating disorders (O'Shaughnessy, 2009) and borderline
personality disorder (Walter,2008).
The mothers of these children form insecure relationship with their child. In some
cases they may be rejecting and not available when the baby needs comfort (Type A) or
they may have ambivalent behaviour- sometimes they are worm, sensitive and
responsive ,but sometimes they are avoidant and rejecting (Type B) and this confuses
the child. The most extreme case is when the parental behaviour is neglectful or
abusive (Type D).This can seriously damage child`s psychological development.
These are the main conclusions that can be made by observing infants` behaviour in
the “Strange Situation”. Children’s psychological development may also be affected by a
change in the parental attitude (eg. special training)(Van der Boom,1994) or the
environment –stressful situations as parental problems, divorce, loss and others(Frosh,
Mangelsdorf & McHale,2000;Lewis,Feiring and Rosenthal,2000).New people and
places also play an important role in child`s development(Rushton &
Mayers,2005)There is also an evidence that there is relationship by the way the mother
recalls their childhood attachment and the relationship with her child-they tend to be the
same(Fonagy, 1991).
To sum up-children with secure attachment are more likely to approach life confidently
and with positive attitude ,to be more socially skilled, communicative and curious. They
form strong relationships with their parents and friends and can cope with difficult
situations, problems and decisions easier and to handle negative emotions and events
better. Insecure children appear to be less confident, more withdrawn from social
communication and with negative attitude towards people in general. They are more
likely to be unable to cope with negative emotions and events and they are less goalorientated .It is hard for them to be entirely independent and to make difficult decisions.
These children hardly form stable relationships with people. The most severe case of
insecure attachment may even cause psychological disorder.
Child`s attachment can be changed in early years, by training of the mother and it can
change his/her whole life. There are also many other factors that may affect infants`
attachment and development ,but it is clear that their behaviour in the Strange Situation
can tell us some main points of the infants` future psychological characteristics.
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