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person1950s-1999

Mary Ainsworth

Disciplines:
developmental psychology

Summary

Canadian-American developmental psychologist who developed the Strange Situation protocol and empirically confirmed Bowlby's attachment theory — identifying the secure, anxious-ambivalent, and avoidant attachment patterns.

Core Contribution

The Strange Situation: a standardized laboratory procedure for assessing infant attachment — brief separations from the caregiver reveal characteristic patterns of protest and reunion. Three (later four) attachment styles: secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized. Provided the empirical foundation for Bowlby's attachment theory.

Notable Works & Achievements

Infancy in Uganda

Patterns of Attachment

Historical Influences

John Bowlby

Intellectual Lineage

Developmental Psychology Attachment Theory

Contemporaries & Peers

John Bowlby

Minds Influenced

Developmental Psychology Clinical Psychology

Intellectual Posterity

Attachment Theory Developmental Psychology

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Mary Ainsworth

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