Strange Situation

Mary Ainsworth's structured separation-reunion procedure classifying infant attachment as secure, avoidant, or resistant.

Specifications & Metrics

The eight-episode laboratory procedure exposes twelve-month-olds to separation, reunion, and a stranger under standard conditions.
Ainsworth's Baltimore studies classified secure, avoidant, and resistant attachments from reunion behavior.
A fourth disorganized pattern was identified later by Main and Solomon and tied to caregiving adversity.