Mary Ainsworth
Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) was a pioneering developmental psychologist best known for her research in attachment theory. Born in Ohio and later moving to Canada, Ainsworth's interest in psychology was sparked by reading William McDougall's "Character and the Conduct of Life" during her teenage years. She completed her education at the University of Toronto, where she earned both a master's and a doctorate, and gained practical experience through her service in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
Ainsworth's significant contribution to psychology is the "Strange Situation" procedure, which she developed to assess the nature of children's attachments to their caregivers. Through this observational study, she identified four attachment styles: secure, anxious-resistant, anxious-avoidant, and disorganized-disoriented. Her findings highlighted the importance of a caregiver's responsiveness to a child's needs in developing secure attachments, influencing practices in child-rearing and mental health assessments.
Ainsworth's work not only transformed the understanding of child development but also informed subsequent research on the long-term effects of attachment styles on adult relationships. After a distinguished career, she retired from the University of Virginia in 1984, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of psychology.
Mary Ainsworth
Developmental psychologist
- Born: December 1, 1913
- Birthplace: Glendale, Ohio
- Died: March 21, 1999
- Place of death: Charlottesville, Virginia
Also known as: Mary Salter
Education: University of Toronto
Significance: Mary Ainsworth was a developmental psychologist who is renowned for her research in attachment theory. Her "Strange Situation" experiment indicated that children have a secure relationship with their mother if their mother responds to their needs.
Background
Mary Ainsworth was born Mary Dinsmore Salter on December 1, 1913, in Glendale, Ohio. Her parents were graduates of Dickinson who instilled in their three daughters the importance of education. When Ainsworth was five, her father accepted a position as the president of a manufacturing firm in Toronto, Ontario, and the family moved there. They eventually became naturalized citizens.
When she was fifteen, Ainsworth read Character and the Conduct of Life (1927) written by American psychologist William McDougall. Ainsworth was intrigued by McDougall's belief that internal forces influence a person's behavior—not only external forces as was previously thought. After reading the book, Ainsworth decided to become a psychologist.
In 1929, Ainsworth enrolled at the University of Toronto. She became one of only four students to complete an honors degree in psychology. She then set her sights on graduate school. While her parents supported her academic pursuits, her father wondered if she might be better off working as a stenographer, a more practical occupation than a developmental psychologist. Ainsworth remained at the University of Toronto, earning a master's and a doctorate degree.
Ainsworth taught at her alma mater for a few years before enlisting in the Canadian Women's Army Corp. in 1942 during World War II, eventually earning the rank of major. She gained clinical work experience there as she spent her days administering tests, taking histories and conducting interviews.
Life's Work
In 1946, Ainsworth accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, where she taught courses in psychology and personality assessment. She became engaged to Leonard Ainsworth, a graduate student in psychology and a veteran. After they married in 1950, Ainsworth found it difficult to be a faculty member at the same institution where her husband was a student. The couple moved to London so Leonard could finish his graduate degree at University College.
In England, Ainsworth accepted a position as a researcher at the Tavistock Clinic. It was here that she began her decades-long working relationship with psychiatrist John Bowly. At Tavistock, Ainsworth became involved in a research project investigating the effects of maternal separation on child development. While Bowly believed that children were either attached to their mother or not, Ainsworth thought attachment was more complex; she believed there were individual differences and degrees of attachment. To prove that attachment was universal, she conducted a study of mothers and infants in Uganda, Africa.
Through her "Strange Situation" experiments, Ainsworth was able to prove her theory that individual differences exist in attachment. During a Strange Situation experiment, an infant between one and two years old is left in a room to play with toys while the child's mother (or caregiver) and a stranger enter and leave the room. Both adults attempt to communicate with the child. Ainsworth classified children into four categories based on their reactions:
- Secure attachment. Children with this type of attachment comfortably explore their surroundings and interact with the stranger in their mother's presence. They often become agitated when the mother leaves and will not communicate with the stranger.
- Anxious-resistant insecure attachment. Children become agitated whenever the stranger enters the room, even if the mother is there. They are extremely agitated when the mother leaves and seem resentful when she returns.
- Anxious-avoidant insecure attachment. Children do not seem to care whether or not the mother or the stranger is in the room. Children refuse to be hugged by their mother.
- Disorganized-disoriented attachment. Children appear very distressed when the mother leaves the room and relieved when she returns. However, they may display anger toward her.
Ainsworth concluded that the strength of a child's attachment to his or her mother depends on how responsive the mother is to the child's needs. Children whose mothers comforted them when they cried and fed them when they were hungry were likely to develop secure attachments. Those who were forced to adhere to a strict feeding schedule or whose mothers put their own needs first were likely to have insecure attachments.
After two years in Uganda, Ainsworth and her husband moved to Baltimore, where Ainsworth taught at Johns Hopkins University and worked as a psychologist at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. After she and Leonard divorced in 1960, she became depressed and underwent psychoanalytic therapy.
In 1975, Ainsworth became a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, a position she held until her retirement in 1984. Ainsworth also served as the head of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) from 1977 to 1979. She died in 1999 at the age of eighty-six.
Impact
Ainsworth's "Strange Situation" experiments were a significant contribution to the field of child development. Prior to her experiments, physicians routinely advised new mothers to let their children cry themselves to sleep and feed them at specified times. Because of Ainsworth's work, many physicians stopped making these recommendations.
Further research into attachment showed that children with an insecure attachment to their mother were more likely to suffer mental health problems and feel insecure in relationships as adults.
Personal Life
Ainsworth married Leonard Ainsworth in 1950, but the couple divorced ten years later.
Principal Works
Doctor in the Making (with A.W. Ham), 1943
Child Care and the Growth of Love (with John Bowlby), 1965
Infancy in Uganda, 1967
Patterns of Attachment (with M. Blehar, E. Waters, and S. Wall), 1978
Bibliography
Krumwiede, Andreas. Attachment Theory According to John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. GRIN Publishing, 2014.
Ainsworth, Mary and Mary C. Blehar. Patterns and Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Psychological Press, 2015.
Held, Lisa. "Mary Ainsworth." Psychology's Feminist Voices, 2010, ERLINK "http://www.feministvoices.com/mary-ainsworth/" www.feministvoices.com/mary-ainsworth/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.
"Mary Ainsworth." Famous Psychologists, YPERLINK "http://www.famouspsychologists.org/mary-ainsworth/" www.famouspsychologists.org/mary-ainsworth/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.
"Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999)." GoodTherapy.org. 24 July 2015, YPERLINK "https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/mary-ainsworth.html" www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/mary-ainsworth.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.
McLeod, Saul. "Mary Ainsworth." Simply Psychology, 2008, YPERLINK "https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html" www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.
Ravo, Nick. "Mary Ainsworth, 85, Theorist on Mother-Infant Attachment." The New York Times, 7 Apr. 1999, HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/mary-ainsworth-85-theorist-on-mother-infant-attachment.html?mcubz=1" www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/mary-ainsworth-85-theorist-on-mother-infant-attachment.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.