Questions: Attachment Styles

Question 1

During the Strange Situation, an infant shows intense distress when the caregiver leaves but remains inconsolable and cannot resume play even after the caregiver returns. This pattern is best classified as:

• A. Secure — a strong emotional response shows the infant has a healthy, deep attachment bond
• B. Avoidant — the infant is preoccupied with the caregiver and cannot shift attention away
• C. Anxious-ambivalent — the infant is distressed and not effectively soothed by reunion
• D. Disorganized — the inability to be comforted indicates a fear response to the caregiver

Answer: (C)

Anxious-ambivalent infants show intense distress on separation but cannot be easily comforted on reunion — they remain preoccupied with the caregiver rather than resuming exploration. The key diagnostic signal in the Strange Situation is reunion behavior, not separation distress. Secure infants are readily soothed on reunion; avoidant infants appear minimally distressed and actively ignore the caregiver; disorganized infants show contradictory or disoriented behaviors (freezing, approaching-then-retreating) typically associated with frightening caregiving. Inconsolability despite caregiver presence is the hallmark of anxious-ambivalent attachment.

Question 2

An avoidant infant in the Strange Situation appears calm and indifferent when the caregiver returns after a separation. The most accurate interpretation of this behavior is:

• A. The infant is genuinely unattached and has not formed a bond with the caregiver
• B. The infant is physiologically calm and has learned that independence is more rewarding than seeking comfort
• C. The infant is internally aroused but has learned to suppress attachment behaviors because expressing them has not reliably produced comfort
• D. The infant has secure attachment but is temperamentally inhibited and low in emotional reactivity

Answer: (C)

This is the critical insight about avoidant attachment. Physiological measures (heart rate, cortisol) reveal that avoidant infants are internally stressed during the Strange Situation — they are not genuinely indifferent. They have learned to suppress the outward display of attachment behavior because expressing attachment needs has not consistently produced soothing responses from the caregiver. The calm exterior is a learned behavioral strategy, not an absence of attachment. This makes avoidant attachment a form of insecure attachment, not non-attachment, and distinguishes it from secure attachment, which involves lower physiological arousal overall.

Question 3

Secure attachment means that an infant does not become distressed when separated from its caregiver.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is a very common misconception. Secure infants typically DO show distress during separation — they cry, search, and become upset. What defines secure attachment is not the absence of distress but what happens on reunion: the caregiver can effectively soothe the infant, and the infant can return to exploration relatively quickly. Ainsworth defined secure attachment as involving the caregiver as a safe haven (where distress is regulated) and secure base (from which exploration is launched). Both functions presuppose that distress occurs and is effectively managed, not that distress is absent.

Question 4

Physiological evidence from the Strange Situation shows that avoidant infants have elevated stress responses even when their behavioral presentation appears calm.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Studies measuring heart rate, skin conductance, and cortisol during the Strange Situation have found that avoidant infants show physiological stress responses comparable to — or sometimes greater than — anxious-ambivalent infants, despite their outwardly calm behavior. This demonstrates that avoidant infants have not simply failed to form an attachment bond; they have learned to deactivate the behavioral expression of attachment while remaining internally aroused. This finding is central to understanding avoidant attachment as a coping strategy rather than indifference.

Question 5

Why does Ainsworth's theory emphasize caregiver sensitivity as the primary driver of attachment classification, rather than the infant's innate temperament?

Model answer: Ainsworth argued that attachment style is a property of the relationship between infant and caregiver, not a fixed trait of the infant. Caregiver sensitivity — the ability to perceive infant signals accurately and respond appropriately and promptly — predicts whether an infant develops secure, anxious-ambivalent, or avoidant attachment. A temperamentally difficult infant can develop secure attachment with a sensitive caregiver; a temperamentally easy infant can develop insecure attachment with an insensitive one. The attachment pattern is best understood as the infant's adaptive behavioral strategy for obtaining comfort given the particular caregiver's response patterns.

The evidence for this comes from longitudinal studies linking caregiver behavior (measured via independent home observations) to Strange Situation classification, and from intervention studies showing that improving caregiver sensitivity shifts infants from insecure to secure attachment classifications. Cross-cultural research also shows that the same basic patterns appear globally but at different frequencies depending on child-rearing practices — consistent with environment shaping the pattern rather than biology alone determining it.