The findings showed that the monkeys preferred the soft, cuddly cloth monkey, even though she did not provide any nourishment. The baby monkeys spent their time clinging to the cloth monkey and only went to the wire monkey when they needed to be fed.
Prior to this study, the medical and scientific communities generally thought that babies become attached to the people who provide their nourishment. However, Harlow concluded that there was more to the mother-child bond than nourishment. Building on the work of Harlow and others, John Bowlby developed the concept of attachment theory.
He defined attachment as the affectional bond or tie that infants form with their mother. In addition, Bowlby proposed that this attachment bond is very powerful and continues throughout life. He used the concept of a secure base to define a healthy attachment between parent and child. Ainsworth wanted to know if children differ in the ways they bond, and if so, why. To find the answers to these questions, she used the Strange Situation procedure to study attachment between mothers and their infants in In the Strange Situation, the mother or primary caregiver and the infant age months are placed in a room together.
There are toys in the room, and the caregiver and child spend some time alone in the room. The primary caregiver then leaves the baby with the stranger. After a few minutes, the caregiver returns to comfort the child. In this type of attachment, the toddler prefers their parent over a stranger. The attachment figure is used by the child as a secure base to explore their environment and is sought out in times of stress. Securely attached children were distressed when their caregivers left the room in the Strange Situation experiment, but when their caregivers returned, the securely attached children were happy to see them.
Securely attached children have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their needs. With avoidant attachment sometimes called insecure or anxious-avoidant , the child is unresponsive to the parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if the parent leaves. The toddler reacts to the parent the same way she reacts to a stranger. When the parent does return, the child is slow to show a positive reaction.
Ainsworth theorized that these children were most likely to have a caregiver who was insensitive and inattentive to their needs. During separation in the Strange Situation, they became extremely disturbed and angry with the parent. Salter Ainsworth was born in Glendale, Ohio in December of and when she was five her family moved to Toronto, Canada.
Aged 15, she came across William McDougall's Character and the Conduct of Life in her local library and reading this book spurred an interest in psychology and a distinguished career. She enrolled at the University of Toronto in and was only one of four to complete an honours degree in psychology. At the onset of the Second World War she obtained a post at the University of Toronto and remained there for three years until she joined the Canadian Women's Army Corps in After four years in the army she returned to the University of Toronto as assistant professor and taught introductory psychology, experimental psychology, and personality assessment.
She became engaged to graduate student, Leonard Ainsworth, and they married in This meeting with John Bowlby was a working relationship that would span many decades.
In Mary Ainsworth and her husband moved to Uganda and she took a position as research psychologist in the East African Institute of Social Research in Kampala, where she conducted a short-term study of the mother-infant relationship. At the end of two years, the couple moved back to America, where Johns Hopkins offered Mary Ainsworth work as a lecturer, with an emphasis on clinical instruction and supervision.
In addition to lecturing and supervising students, she set up a private practice devoted to children. Ainsworth became a full professor in , one year after beginning the research for which she would become best known. This research known as — the strange situation — was an experiment for observing attachment between parents and children. Caregiver and infant are left alone. Caregiver does not participate while infant plays and explores. Stranger enters, converses with parent, then approaches infant.
Caregiver leaves inconspicuously. First separation episode: Stranger's adjusts his behavior to that of the infant. First reunion episode: Caregiver greets and comforts the infant, then leaves again. Second separation episode: Infant is left alone. Continuation of second separation episode: Stranger enters and again adjusts his behavior to that of the infant. Second reunion episode: Parent enters, greets infant, and picks up infant; stranger leaves inconspicuously.
The sense of safety a child feels with particular adults through established relationships. Quality develops according to caregiver's behavior. Ranges from secure to insecure 6. These children tend to avoid their caregiver when they return at times or may seem nervous when approaching the caregiver.
Attachment Styles. Michelson, L. Plenum Press, NY. Mary Ainsworth and Attachment Theory. Total views 46, On Slideshare 0. From embeds 0. Number of embeds 4, Downloads Shares 0. Comments 0. Likes You just clipped your first slide!
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