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Cited by 266

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 187 of the 187 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation

Lamb, Michael E., Thompson, Ross A., Gardner, William P., Charnov, Eric L., Estes, David·1984·Behavioral and Brain Sciences
DOI 10.1017/s0140525x00026522
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Abstract

The Strange Situation procedure was developed by Ainsworth two decades agoas a means of assessing the security of infant-parent attachment. Users of the procedureclaim that it provides a way of determining whether the infant has developed species-appropriate adaptive behavior as a result of rearing in an evolutionary appropriate context, characterized by a sensitively responsive parent. Only when the parent behaves in the sensitive, species-appropriate fashion is the baby said to behave in the adaptive or secure fashion. Furthermore, when infants are observed repeatedly in the Strange Situation,the pattern of behavior is said to be highly similar, and this pattern is said to predict the infants' future behavior in a diverse array of contexts. After an exhaustive review of the literature, it is shown that these popular claims are empirically unsupported in their strong form, and that the interpretations in terms of biological adaptationare misguided. There is little reliable evidence about the specific dimensions of parental behavior that affect Strange Situation behavior, although there does appear to be some relationship between these constructs. Temporal stability in security of attachment ishigh only when there is stability in family and caretaking circumstances. Likewise, patterns of Strange Situation behavior only have substantial predictive validity in similarly stable families. Implications for future research and theorizing — particularly as they relate to the use of evolutionary biology in psychological theory — are discussed.

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Metadata

Authors
Lamb, M. E., Thompson, R. A., Gardner, W. P., Charnov, E. L., & Estes, D.
Venue
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
1984-03
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
127-147
ISSN
  • 0140-525X (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-1825
DOI
10.1017/s0140525x00026522
OpenAlex
W2164637800
Cited by
266
References
187
FWCI
32.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 9471 d)

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1017/s0140525x00026522
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Lamb, M. E., Thompson, R. A., Gardner, W. P., Charnov, E. L., & Estes, D. (1984). Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x00026522

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