See more
What was Mary Ainsworth's contribution to attachment theory?
Ainsworth expanded the theory by stating that infants react in 4 different attachment patterns (secure, ambivalent, avoidant, or disorganized) based on the extent of their bond to their primary caregiver.
What are the 4 stages of the attachment theory?
Pre attachment Phase (Birth – 6 Weeks) “Attachment in Making” Phase ( 6 Weeks – 6 to 8 Months) “Clear Cut” Attachment Phase ( 6-8 Months to 18 Months-2 Years) Formation Of Reciprocal Relationship (18 Months – 2 Years and on)
What is the main idea of attachment theory?
The central theme of attachment theory is that primary caregivers who are available and responsive to an infant's needs allow the child to develop a sense of security. The infant learns that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world.
How is attachment theory used today?
Summary. In summary, attachment theory can be used to understand the development of coping patterns or relationship patterns and the underlying dynamics of a person's emotional difficulties.
Who created the attachment theory?
John BowlbyThe origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.
What are the three theories of attachment?
There are three distinct types of attachment style: secure, anxious, and avoidant.
What type of theory is attachment theory?
Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal social and emotional development.
What is Bowlby's attachment theory all about?
The central theme of Bowlby's attachment theory is that mothers who are available and responsive to their infant's needs establish a sense of security. The baby knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to feel safe to explore the world.
What are stages of attachment?
For example, Schaffer and Emerson suggested that attachments develop in four stages: asocial stage or pre-attachment (first few weeks), indiscriminate attachment (approximately 6 weeks to 7 months), specific attachment or discriminate attachment (approximately 7-9 months) and multiple attachment (approximately 10 ...
What are the four characteristics of Bowlby's attachment theory?
Characteristics of Attachment They include a safe heaven, a secure base, proximity maintenance and separation distress. These four attributes are very evident in the relationship between a child and his caregiver.
What are the main points of Bowlby's attachment theory?
Bowlby's evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive. A child has an innate (i.e. inborn) need to attach to one main attachment figure. This is called monotropy.
What is John Bowlby's theory of attachment?
Bowlby defined attachment as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings." His ethological theory of attachment suggests that infants have an innate need to form an attachment bond with a caregiver.
What was Mary Ainsworth's experiment?
Mary Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation Test. This experiment utilized 100 infants from American middle-class families, from age 12 months t...
What is Mary Ainsworth's attachment theory?
Mary Ainsworth's attachment theory describes the different attachment styles that children can develop during infancy. These attachment styles repr...
What are the 4 types of attachment?
The four types of attachment are secure attachment, insecure avoidant attachment, insecure ambivalent attachment, and disorganized attachment. The...
What is Mary Ainsworth's contribution to psychology?
Major Contributions to Psychology. Mary Ainsworth's research on attachment has played an important role in our understanding of child development. While her work is not without its own controversies, such as the extent to which early attachment styles contribute to later behavior, her observations have inspired an enormous body ...
Who is Mary Ainsworth?
James Lacy, MLS, is a fact checker and researcher. Mary Ainsworth (December 1, 1913 – March 21, 1999) was a developmental psychologist perhaps best known for her Strange Situation assessment and contributions to the area of attachment theory. Ainsworth elaborated on Bowlby's research on attachment and developed an approach to observing ...
What did Ainsworth do to help children?
Ainsworth elaborated on Bowlby's research on attachment and developed an approach to observing a child's attachment to a caregiver. Based on her research, she identified three major styles of attachment that children have to their parents or caregivers.
When did Leonard Ainsworth divorce?
In 1950, she married Leonard Ainsworth and moved to London. After returning to the U.S., Ainsworth took a position at John Hopkins University. She divorced in 1960 and underwent therapy that contributed to her interest in psychoanalytic theory.
Where was Mary Ainsworth born?
The Impact of Her Early Life. Mary Ainsworth was born in Glendale Ohio. When she was 15, she read William McDougall's book Character and the Conduct of Life, which inspired her lifelong interest in psychology. She went on to attend the University of Toronto in the honors psychology program.
Does Verywell Mind use peer reviewed sources?
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
What does Mary Ainsworth conclude about the strange situation?
Mary Ainsworth concluded that the strange situation could be used to identify the child's type of attachment has been criticized on the grounds that it identifies only the type of attachment to the mother. The child may have a different type of attachment to the father or grandmother, for example (Lamb, 1977). This means that it lacks validity, as it does not measure a general attachment style, but instead an attachment style specific to the mother.
Why did Ainsworth develop an experimental procedure?
Ainsworth developed an experimental procedure in order to observe the variety of attachment forms exhibited between mothers and infants. The experiment is set up in a small room with one way glass so the behavior of the infant can be observed covertly. Infants were aged between 12 and 18 months.
What is the maternal sensitivity hypothesis?
Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues that a child’s attachment style is dependent on the behavior their mother shows towards them.
Why do infants develop secure attachment?
Infants develop a secure attachment when the caregiver is sensitive to their signals, and responds appropriately to their needs.
What paradigm was used to investigate the security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds?
The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds were investigated using the strange situation paradigm, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviors and styles of attachment.
Why do children use attachment figures?
They use the attachment figure as a safe base to explore the environment and seek the attachment figure in times of distress (Main, & Cassidy, 1988).
Who believed that attachment is an all or nothing process?
John Bowlby (1969) believed that attachment was an all or nothing process. However, research has shown that there are individual differences in attachment quality. Indeed, one of the primary paradigms in attachment theory is that of the security of an individual’s attachment (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970).
Who Was Mary Ainsworth?
Mary Ainsworth was an American developmental psychologist best known for her work in attachment theory. She created the classic study used in attachment research called ' The Strange Situation .'
How old was Mary Ainsworth when she started studying psychology?
Mary Ainsworth, born Mary Salter in 1913, first became interested in psychology after reading William McDougall's book, Character and the Conduct of Life, when she was 15 years old. A year later, she enrolled at the University of Toronto in the honors psychology program. In addition to her bachelor's degree, she went on to earn both a master's ...
What did Bowlby and Ainsworth find?
Bowlby and Ainsworth found that when a child does not have a stable, predictable and readily accessible mother figure or primary caregiver, the child experiences detrimental emotional and relational effects. In 1954, Ainsworth left Tavistock Clinic to do her own attachment-related research in Kampala, Uganda.
Why was Mary's research developed?
Mary's research developed to help researchers better understand the different types of reactions infants and toddlers have to separations that occur with their mothers. Securely attached. child is most content when in the presence of his mother. Ambivalently attached.
What did Ainsworth find about mother-infant interactions?
Ainsworth found that mother-infant interactions created different responses in children. For some, the interaction gave the child a sense of security. For others, it prompted conflict and problematic behavior.
How many groups did Ainsworth categorize?
As a result of these experiments, Ainsworth was able to categorize the various responses into three groups:
What did Ainsworth's research help dispel?
Ainsworth's research helped dispel the traditional ideas at the time that prompt attention to a child would lead to 'spoiling' them. In fact, her research validated that prompt responses to needs like feeding or comfort are more beneficial for developing a securely attached relationship than delaying those needs, which could lead to an insecure attachment. Subsequent research by others has confirmed the results that Ainsworth obtained in her studies.
What was the Ainsworth experiment?
Ainsworth devised an experiment called the “Strange Situation” in reaction to John Bowlby’s initial finding that infants form an emotional bond to its caregiver. In this experiment, the infant is placed in scenarios with or without its mother as well as with or without a stranger.
What are the 4 attachment patterns that infants have?
Ainsworth expanded the theory by stating that infants react in 4 different attachment patterns (secure, ambivalent, avoidant, or disorganized) based on the extent of their bond to their primary caregiver.
What was Mary Ainsworth's experiment?
In doing so Mary Ainsworth devised an experiment to discover and identify attachment styles. She called the technique used called Strange Situation Classification she also stated that results may vary from between children. The result from the experiment Strange Situation Classification identified security attachment. In order to determine the attachment behavior in children 1 to 2 years of age and also attachment styles.
How many categories of behaviors are measured and observed by Ainsworth?
So Ainsworth Four categories of behaviors are measured and observed:
What did Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation study reveal?
In the study, researchers observed children between the ages of 12 and 18 months as they responded to a situation in which they were briefly left alone and then reunited with their mothers. 4
What is attachment theory?
Attachment theory is focused on the relationships and bonds between people, particularly long-term relationships, including those between a parent and child and between romantic partners.
How does attachment develop?
While this process may seem straightforward, there are some factors that can influence how and when attachments develop, including: 1 Opportunity for attachment : Children who do not have a primary care figure, such as those raised in orphanages, may fail to develop the sense of trust needed to form an attachment. 2 Quality caregiving : When caregivers respond quickly and consistently, children learn that they can depend on the people who are responsible for their care, which is the essential foundation for attachment. This is a vital factor.
Why is attachment a learned behavior?
These theories proposed that attachment was merely the result of the feeding relationship between the child and the caregiver. Because the caregiver feeds the child and provides nourishment, the child becomes attached.
What did Bowlby find about attachment?
2 Instead, he found that attachment was characterized by clear behavioral and motivation patterns.
How many infants were in the study of attachment?
Researchers Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson analyzed the number of attachment relationships that infants form in a longitudinal study with 60 infants. The infants were observed every four weeks during the first year of life, and then once again at 18 months.
Does Verywell Mind use peer reviewed sources?
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Strange Situation Procedure
- Strange Situation Procedure
The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds were investigated using the strange situation paradigm, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviors and styles of attachment. Ainsworth developed an experimental procedure in order to observe the variety of attachment fo…
Results - Attachment Styles
- Results - Attachment Styles
Ainsworth (1970) identified three main attachment styles, secure (type B), insecure avoidant (type A) and insecure ambivalent/resistant (type C). She concluded that these attachment styles were the result of early interactions with the mother. A fourth attachment style known as disorganized …
Strange Situation Conclusion
- Strange Situation Conclusion
Ainsworth (1978) suggested the ‘caregiver sensitivity hypothesis’ as an explanation for different attachment types. Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues that a child’s attachment style is dependent on the behavior their mother shows towards them. 1. ‘Sensitive’ mothers are r…
Theoretical Evaluation
- Theoretical Evaluation
This caregiver sensitivity theory is supported by research from, Wolff and Van Ijzendoorn (1997) who conducted a Meta-analysis (a review) of research into attachment types. They found that there is a relatively weak correlation of 0.24 between parental sensitivity and attachment type – …
Methodological Evaluation
- Methodological Evaluation
The strange situation classification has been found to have good reliability. This means that it achieves consistent results. For example, a study conducted in Germany found 78% of the children were classified in the same way at ages 1 and 6 years (Wartner et al., 1994). Although, …