Major Contributions, Awards, and Honors
While she lived in London, Ainsworth worked with renowned psychologist John Bowlby, studying attachment. At Tovistock Clinic she planned to study the development of attachment between a mother and child in natural settings. She got the chance to perform this examination when she left the clinic and went to the East African Institute of Social Research in Uganda. There she performed the studies necessary to create her famous procedure, “The Strange Situation”. In addition to this procedure, Ainsworth also studied the development of human security, exploration and self reliance. These studies combined are the “cornerstones” of the modern day Theory of Attachment. (http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/24/1/36.full)
Ainsworth also received many awards, including the G. Stanley Hall Award from the APA for developmental psychology in 1984 (Curriculum). According to the "Curriculum Vita," she also received the Award for Distinguished Professional Contribution to Knowledge from the APA in 1987 and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the APA in 1989. (http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/ainsworth.html)
Ainsworth also received many awards, including the G. Stanley Hall Award from the APA for developmental psychology in 1984 (Curriculum). According to the "Curriculum Vita," she also received the Award for Distinguished Professional Contribution to Knowledge from the APA in 1987 and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the APA in 1989. (http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/ainsworth.html)
The Strange Situation and the development of Ainsworth’s attachment theory
A mother and child participate in a Strange Situation procedure
Ainsworth performed this experiment to assess differences in infants' reactions to a series of separations and reunions with their mothers. According to Webster, the strange situation procedure consisted of the researcher taking a mother and child of around a year old and into an unfamiliar room with toys. The researcher then tests different series of separation and reunion between the mother and child and the child’s reaction to the researcher, who is a stranger to the child.
Three results were found from this experiment:
1. anxious/avoidant (the child may not be distressed when the mother leaves and may avoid her when she returns)
2. securely attached (the child is distressed by the mother's departure and seeks comfort from her when she returns)
3. anxious/resistant (the child stays close to the mother in the first few minutes alone and becomes highly distressed by her departure, only to seek comfort when she returns, but then reject her closeness) http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/ainsworth.html
These are the three types of attachment that form Ainsworth’s attachment theory.
Three results were found from this experiment:
1. anxious/avoidant (the child may not be distressed when the mother leaves and may avoid her when she returns)
2. securely attached (the child is distressed by the mother's departure and seeks comfort from her when she returns)
3. anxious/resistant (the child stays close to the mother in the first few minutes alone and becomes highly distressed by her departure, only to seek comfort when she returns, but then reject her closeness) http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/ainsworth.html
These are the three types of attachment that form Ainsworth’s attachment theory.