Homework #3 Mary Ainsworth was a very influential figure in the field of psychology. Not only did she focus on the scientific study of love, but she also looked at how this theory developed. Mary’s lifelong process looked at the origins and nature of attachments between the interactions of infants and their primary caregivers. Going off of Harry Harlow’s research with Rhesus monkeys, it was discovered that attachments were formed with the primary caregiver because of the comfort that is provided, and not just nourishment as previously thought.
Mary traveled to Uganda in order to observe these developmental patterns, discovering that babies go through a number of phases in order to form attachments. She also explained that some babies have secure attachments while others have insecure attachments. Mary published this information in her first book. She then traveled to Baltimore and studied 26 middle class families. She observed episodes of close bodily contact, face to face encounters, separation and reunion behaviors, infant cooperation, and disobedience. Mary realized that she was seeing patterns that were similar to Bowlby’s work. She established the premise of the attachment theory, indicating that the baby treated the
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The secure babies used their mothers as a base to explore and as a protective safe haven. They were upset when the caregivers left but when they returned, they brought safety to the baby. Babies who had an avoidant attachment, didn’t want their caregiver upon return to the room. The caregivers for these babies may have been unresponsive to their signals of distress. Some babies were also classified as having resistant attachments, and tried kicking or arching their backs when comforted by the caregiver. The last insecure attachment is known as disorganized which usually results in relationship and behavioral patterns for the children later in