Mary Ainsworth

Mary Ainsworth: Her Impact on Early Childhood Practices
Background
Mary Ainsworth was born in Ohio in 1913. When she was five, her family moved to Toronto and Mary spent the rest of her childhood in Canada (O’Connell & Russo, 1983). Mary read a book entitled Character and the Conduct of Life when she was fifteen years old and that is what led her to want to pursue a career in psychology (O’Connell & Russo, 1983). The following year, she enrolled at the University of Toronto, earned her BA in 1935, her MA in 1936 and her PHD in Psychology in 1939 (Ravo, 1999). Mary taught at the University of Toronto, researched at Tavistock in England, worked at Johns Hopkins, and then settled at the University of Virginian beginning in 1975, where she stayed till she ended her professorship in 1992 (Ravo, 1999).
While in graduate school, Mary was introduced to “security theory” by way of her mentor William Blatz, who argued that children develop varying levels of dependence upon their parents as they grow and those levels of dependence will predict the type of relationship that the children will have as adults, both with their parents and with other people. Blatz’s theory was that the more secure children feel the more likely they are to have happy and healthy relationships.
Mary married while a researcher and later divorced. She believed that her mother’s own distance from her as a child had something to do with Mary’s ability to establish meaningful relationships (O’Connell & Russo, 1983). Critics later argued that this perspective is what shaped her research and limited its external validity. However, other researchers found that Ainsworth’s attachment theory did demonstrate at least some statistical significance with regard to how the mother-infant relationship determined or predicted the child’s attachment type (McLeod, 2016).
Theory
Ainsworth developed attachment theory while working with another researcher John Bowlby at Tavistock (Ravo, 1999). Following their initial work, Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation Procedure in order to assess variances in attachment behavior. The process examined and recorded the mother-infant reactions to stress through eight different episodes involving the infant being left with a stranger for three minutes while the caregiver/parent is present or not present. As the stress of being without the caregiver or in the presence of the stranger is amplified, the infant’s reactions are observed. Ainsworth conducted this study with 26 infant participants and found a variety of attachment relationships, expressed through various forms of communication, emotions, and responses (Ravo, 1999).
The attachment relationships were characterized as anxious-avoidant insecure attachment, secure attachment, anxious-resistant insecure attachment, and disorganized/disoriented attachment within four separate categories: Separation Anxiety, Stranger Anxiety Reunion Behavior, and Other. 70% of the infants demonstrated secure relationships in that they cried for their mother when she left, they avoided the stranger when alone but were friendly when their mothers were there, they were happy when mothers returned, and the mother was used as a secure base for exploring the environment (McLeod, 2016). A child who had a secure attachment was able to be easily soothed by the parent or attachment figure and secure attachments were developed when the mother was attentive to and sensitive or sympathetic to the child’s needs and signals. A caregiver who was inattentive to them would result in an insecure attachment, according to Ainsworth’s theory. Thus, Ainsworth suggested that mothers bear a large responsibility in how their children turn out as adults simply by the extent of sympathy and sensitivity that they show the children.
Ainsworth’s caregiver sensitivity theory was tested by later researchers as well who found that this a minimal correlation “between parental sensitivity and attachment type” meaning that parents who are more sensitive to their children’s stress levels will in general have more secure children (McLeod, 2016).
Impact
Not all critics and researchers responded favorably to Ainsworth’s theory. Some suggested that the weak correlation found by later researchers was too insubstantial to be meaningful and that there are potentially other factors involved that could determine a child’s attachment type. By focusing solely on the mother-infant relationship, these critics argued that Ainsworth was limiting the scope of her own research because of researcher bias.
Kagan, for example, argued that child temperament has much to do with the attachment type as well and that every child is born with an innate temperament or character that is manifested over time and that impacts the extent to which the child is attached or unattached to a parent or caregiver (McLeod, 2016). Later researchers also found evidence that signaled correlation between temperament and attachment as well, indicating that perhaps indeed there were more factors involved in how attachments and relationships are formed than just the mother-infant relationship variable.
In short, the impact of the theory and work of Ainsworth was that it opened up a whole new avenue in psychological research to determine just how or why children developed attachments to others, how they formed relationships, how various inputs affected these developments, and the extent to which a mother’s affection for a child was a predictive variable. These studies helped in time to uncover new ideas and concepts about childhood development that have assisted numerous researchers and psychologists in better understanding the child psychology and the various stages of childhood development.
Ainsworth’s theory can be used in an early childhood classroom or center with respect to ensuring that teachers and caregivers are sensitive to the needs and stress levels of children. If anything, the research has shown that sensitivity of caregivers to children’s needs is at least a minimal factor in how secure that child feels. The more sensitive a caregiver is to a child’s needs, the more likely that child is to feel secure. By demonstrating sympathy, attentiveness and affection to all children in a classroom or center, the adult in charge of the room is most likely to have a positive impact on the child’s psychological and emotional development.
Conclusion
Mary Ainsworth developed the theory of attachment and showed the mothers or caregivers who are sensitive to the needs and stress levels of their infants will have an impact on that child’s attachment type, security, and ability to form relationships. However, it has also been shown that variables like the temperament of the child will have an impact on the child’s security and attachment type as well. Ainsworth’s theory nonetheless recognized that the mother-infant or caregiver-child relationship does have some influence over the child’s development in terms of security and relationship building.

References
McLeod, S. (2016). Mary Ainsworth. Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html
O’Connell, A. & Russo, N. (1983). Models of achievement: Reflections of eminent
women in psychology. New York, NY: Columbia University.
Ravo, N. (1999). Mary Ainsworth, 85, theorist on mother-infant attachment. Retrieved
from https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/mary-ainsworth-85-theorist-on-mother-infant-attachment.html