Mary Ainsworth and Child Psychology

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 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. In a 2002 review ranking the most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century, Ainsworth was listed as the 97th most influential psychologist, based on frequency of journal citation, introductory psychology textbook citation, and survey response.

Mary Ainsworth Was Best Known For

• Research onattachment theory
• Development of the "Strange Situation" assessment

她早期生活的影响

Mary Ainsworth was born in Glendale Ohio. When she was 15, she read William McDougall's bookCharacter and the Conduct of Life, which inspired her lifelong interest in psychology.

她继续参加多伦多大学的荣誉心理学计划。万博maxbetx官网登陆1935年在1935年收入BA后，她在1936年和她的博士学位。1939年，她于1942年加入加拿大女性陆军公司之前在多伦多大学教学。

1950年，她与伦纳德阿斯沃思结婚，搬到了伦敦。返回美国后，Ainsworth在John Hopkin University占据了一席之地。她于1960年离婚，接受了对她兴趣的疗法psychoanalytic theory。She began teaching at the University of Virginia and remained at the school for the remainder of her career.

她对附件的研究

During her time in England, Ainsworth worked at the Tavistock Clinic with psychologistJohn Bowlby, where she researched maternal-infant attachments. After leaving this position, she spent time conducting research on mother-child interactions in Uganda.

After returning to the U.S. to teach at John Hopkins, she began working on creating an assessment to measure attachments between mothers and children. It was here that she developed her famous "Strange Situation" assessment, in which a researcher observes a child's reactions when a mother briefly leaves her child alone in an unfamiliar room.

Based on her observations and research, Ainsworth concluded that there were three main styles of attachment: secure, anxious-avoidant, and anxious-resistant. Since these initial finding, her work has spawned countless studies into the nature of attachment and the differentattachment stylesthat exist between children and caregivers.

Major Contributions to Psychology

Mary Ainsworth对依恋的研究在我们对儿童发展的理解中发挥了重要作用。虽然她的工作并非没有自己的争议，但是早期附着风格有助于以后的行为的程度，她的观察会激发了对幼儿附着的巨大研究。