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Attachment in practice – Attachment behaviour – strange situation test
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- A way of assessing the quality
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- of the attachment relationship
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- for 12 to 18-month-olds
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- was developed by psychologist Mary Ainsworth.
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- This assessment is known as the strange situation.
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- The general idea of this
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- is that the mother and child
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- go into an unfamiliar room
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- and a stranger enters and stays with the child
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- whilst the mother leaves the room.
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- The child's reaction to the mother leaving is observed
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- and the child's reaction to the stranger is observed.
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- When mother comes back in,
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- the reunion is observed.
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- The child's behavior at separation and reunion
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- will indicate the type of attachment that's developed.
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- When the child has an insecure, avoidant attachment,
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- the child is unaffected
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- by the separation from the mother
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- and doesn't react to her when she returns.
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- When the child has an insecure, ambivalent attachment,
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- the child is extremely distressed
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- and difficult for the mother to console
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- when she returns.
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- A securely-attached child may be upset
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- by the mother's absence,
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- but will respond enthusiastically to her return.
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- Of course it's not always this straightforward.
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- As well as these common types of attachment,
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- there are also more extreme insecure forms
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- where the child has had to develop quite complex ways
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- of coping with his or her distress.