When the infant experiences the caregiver as being available and providing a secure base the infant feels confident enough to explore the environment. As a result of repeated experiences, infants develop a cognitive working model of the mother and the world and then use this model to predict the mother's behavior and direct their own behavior (Cassidy, 1994). A.
goal-corrected system begins to operate. For example, when the infant senses safety as a result of enough proximity, attachment behaviors and emotions lessen. When the infant's safety or security is threatened, attachment-seeking behaviors begin to occur. Behaviors and emotions should be adjusted to specific contexts. If a child is feeling safe and in a secure environment, the child's goal may be to stay in the same room with the mother, but to play more independently.
Ainsworth et al. (1969) described three principal patterns of attachment, which have been used to classify infants at one year of age. These styles of attachment are observed in the Strange Situation procedure which consists of a series of episodes in which the infant in able to interact with a stranger in the presence or absence of the mother. This was conducted at 14 months, as the first paradigm in the laboratory session. Three patterns have been identified which are secure, insecure-avoidance, and insecure-ambivalent (resistant). In the Strange Situation procedure, a secure infant is able to look around and explore when the mother is present. When the securely attached infant is separated from the mother, the infant shows emotions of distress and looks for the mother. At their reunion, the child seeks contact with the mother and is able to be soothed. The insecure-avoidance infants play when their mother is present. However, when the mother leaves, the separation does not appear to disturb or upset the infant. Neither does the infant look for the mother.
