Mary Ainsworth Attachment Theory of Development

Mary Ainsworth Her work in a nutshell…. Like Bowlby, Canadian Psychologist Mary Ainsworth (1972) described a list of behaviours she observed as evidence of a infant’s attachment to a specific caregiver. These behaviours included: Crying to attract caregivers attention Smiling more at the caregiver than others Vocalising more in the presence of the caregiver then alone with strangers Crying when being put down Following the caregiver Flight to the caregiver when in danger

Mary Ainsworth To test the quality of an infant’s attachment to their primary caregiver, Ainsworth created an experiment that come to be known as, “the strange situation.” The experiment took place in a room and then a fixed sequence of events was orchestrated, with the infants reactions being observed and recorded.

Mary Ainsworth The quality of the infant’s play and the level of distress (crying) when the mother was present was compared to playing and distress (crying) when the mother was absent and the infant was left in the room with the stranger.

Mary Ainsworth

Mary Ainsworth From the observations Ainsworth developed three categories based infant behaviour. Group A- “Avoidant Attachment” type: Infants were seen relatively indifferently to their mothers Rarely cried when their mother left the room Showed little attention to the caregiver when they returned Group B- “Securely Attached” type Protested vigorously when the caregiver left the room Anxiously looked for her during her absence Responded with pleasure and gave the caregiver a warm greeting when she returned

Mary Ainsworth Groups “A’s” exploration of the room was not affected by the absence of their mother Compared to group B who explored the room when their mother was present Group C: “ Anxiously Attached” type: Showed great distress when caregiver left the room Were not calmed easily when caregiver returned Appeared to be more anxious than any other group before, during and after the separation of the caregiver Did not actively explore then room when caregiver was present

Mary Ainsworth Why are some infant’s securely attached compared to others who are insecurely attached? Ainsworth believes that attachment security depends on how sensitive and responsive a caregiver is to the infant’s signals. Infants who are group B (securely attached) tend to have mothers who are more sensitive, accepting and expressive of affection towards them than the mothers of infants who were “insecurely attached.” The mothers of group A (avoidant-attachment) are insensitive to their signals, they do not often have close body contact with their infant, and instead of being affectionate, they are often irritable and behave in an angry manner.

Mary Ainsworth The mothers of group C (anxiously attached) type infants are insensitive and are awkward with their infants and are not affectionate, but not as rejecting as the group A (avoidant attachment) mothers.

Mary Ainsworth The strange situation seems to be a good measure of attachment infants and their mothers in societies such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the United States. As it is the norm to leave infants alone with babysitters. In other societies it is not the norm, instead the norm would be to carry around the infant by the primary caregiver. The results of placing culturally different infants in the strange situation are completely different.

Mary Ainsworth For example….. In a study using Japanese infants more than 40% of the infants were classified as being group C (anxiously attached) babies, or increasingly attached to their mothers. This was because the infants became so upset when their mothers left the room and refused to be comforted when they returned. Even with these limitations, the strange situation provided a wealth of information about the processes involved when infants become attached to their caregivers.

Mary Ainsworth What are the effects of attachment later in life? Research by Alan Stroufe (195, 1990) found: Infants who were type B (securely attached) during infancy were less frustrated and happier at two years than those of type A (avoidant attachment) and C (anxiously attached). In other studies, securely attached infants were more socially competent and had higher academic results. Some things to think about based on previous studies: Link between attachment and a child’s competence (deprivation) The common term “feral children”- a previous study looked at children isolated from society and did not know how to interact Maternal separation and childcare Refer to Ainsworth chapter 5 of textbook Overall, research findings to date substantiate the proportion of attachment theory that a child’s attachment theory does matter

Mary Ainsworth The experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s608077NtNI

Theorist Questions: Mary Ainsworth Answer the following questions in your workbook: What is the name of the theorist? What is her history/background? What is the developmental theory she researched/developed? (summarise the stages) What was the major research she conducted and the results they found? What criticisms (if any) are there for her research/theories?