Mary D. Salter Ainsworth

Infant--mother attachment.

Bowlbys (1969) ethological-evolutionary attachment theory implies that it is an essential part of the ground plan of the human species—as well as that of many other species—for an infant to become attached to a mother figure. This figure need not be the natural mother but can be anyone who plays the role of principal caregiver. This ground plan is fulfilled, except under extraordinary circumstances when the baby experiences too little interaction with any one caregiver to support the formation of an attachment. The literature on maternal deprivation describes some of these circumstances, but it cannot be reviewed here, except to note that research has not yet specified an acceptable minimum amount of interaction required for attachment formation. However, there have been substantial recent advances in the areas of individual differences in the way attachment behavior becomes organized, differential experiences associated with the various attachment patterns, and the value of such patterns in forecasting subsequent development. These advances have been much aided by a standardized laboratory situation that was devised to supplement a naturalistic, longitudinal investigation of the development of infant-mother attachment in the first year of life. This strange situation, as we entitled it, has proved to be an excellent basis for the assessment of such attachment in 1-year-olds (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The assessment procedure consists of classification according to the pattern of behavior shown in the strange situation, particularly in the episodes of reunion after separation. Eight patterns were identified, but I shall deal here only with the three main groups into which they fell—Groups A, B, and C. To summarize, Group B babies use their mothers as a secure base from which to explore in the preseparation episodes; their attachment behavior is greatly intensified by the separation episodes so that exploration diminishes and distress is likely; and in the reunion episodes they seek contact with, proximity to, or at least interaction

Attachment, Exploration, and Separation: Illustrated by the Behavior of One-Year-Olds in a Strange Situation.

La calidad del cuidado en la primera infancia tiene un impacto fundamental en el desarrollo psicologico. Existe evidencia de que a traves de visitas domiciliarias y el uso de la video retroalimentacion es posible mejorar la calidad del cuidado y la seguridad del apego. Para la adaptacion al contexto colombiano de la Intervencion Relacional basada en el apego, se evaluo el proceso de su implementacion con una metodologia de analisis de caso. Participaron dos cuidadoras de ninos menores de dos anos en Bogota: un caso de institucionalizacion del nino, y otro con riesgo de maltrato infantil. Se analizaron videos de sesiones representativas de los procesos de intervencion, las evaluaciones de satisfaccion de las cuidadoras y el reporte de seguimiento de los profesionales. Se realizaron analisis de tendencias para los datos cuantitativos y analisis de contenido para la informacion cualitativa. Se encontro que la Intervencion Relacional puede facilitar el proceso de reintegro familiar de ninos institucionalizados y promover la sensibilidad materna; tambien, que es factible su implementacion con familias en situacion de alta vulnerabilidad de forma protocolarizada. Se recomienda el fortalecimiento en las estrategias usadas para la reduccion de estresores contextuales que afectan la esfera vincular.cussed. As an illustration of these concepts, a study is reported of 56 white, middle-class infants, 49-51 weeks of age, in a strange situation. The presence of the mother was found to encourage exploratory behavior, her absence to depress exploration and to heighten attachment behaviors. In separation episodes such behaviors as crying and search increased. In reunion episodes proximity-seeking and contact-maintaining behaviors were heightened. In a substantial proportion of Ss, contact-resisting behaviors were also heightened in the reunion episodes, usually in conjunction with contactmaintaining behaviors, thus suggesting ambivalence. Some Ss also displayed proximity-avoiding behavior in relation to the mother in the reunion episodes. These findings are discussed in the context of relevant observational, clinical, and experimental studies of human and nonhuman primates, including studies of mother-child separation. In conclusion, it is urged that the concepts of attachment and attachment behavior be kept broad enough to comprehend the spectrum of the findings of this range of studies.

An Ethological Approach to Personality Development

attachment that we have jointly developed is that it is an ethological approach to personality development. We have had a long and happy partnership in pursuing this approach. In this article we wish to give a brief historical account of the initially separate but compatible approaches that eventually merged in the partnership, and how our contributions have intertwined in the course of developing an ethologically oriented theory of attachment and a body of research that has both stemmed from the theory and served to extend and elaborate it.

Early Face-to-Face Interaction and Its Relation to Later Infant-Mother Attachment.

BLEHAR, MARY C.; LIEBERMAN, ALICIA F.; and AINSWORTH, MARY D. SALTER. Early Face-to-Face Interaction and Its Relation to Later Infant-Mother Attachment. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 182194. Face-to-face interaction between 26 infants and (a) their mothers and (b) a relatively unfamiliar figure was observed longitudinally between 6 and 15 weeks of age in the home environment. Highlights of normative findings are that infants became more responsive over this time period, whereas maternal behavior did not change. In the sample as a whole, infants were more responsive to the mother than to the unfamiliar figure on only 1 measure, bouncing. Individual differences in maternal behavior were stable throughout, but individual differences in infant behavior were not. Individual differences in interaction were analyzed and summarized by means of a factor analysis. Factor I opposed positive infant responsiveness to minimal response and maternal playfulness to impassiveness. Factor II contrasted maternal contingent pacing, infant delight, and prolonged interaction with routine maternal manner, abruptness, negative infant response, and brief interaction. Individual differences in interaction were found to be related to later differences in infant-mother attachment, as assessed by a strange-situation procedure at 51 weeks of age. Infants later identified as securely attached were more responsive in early en face encounters than infants judged to be anxiously attached, and their mothers were more contingently responsive and encouraging of interaction. Infants later identified as anxiously attached were more unresponsive and negative in early en face interaction than securely attached infants, and their mothers were more likely to be impassive or abrupt. Securely attached infants were more positively responsive to the mother than to an unfamiliar figure in early face-to-face episodes, while anxiously attached infants were not.

Attachment as related to mother-infant interaction.

Publisher Summary Infant-mother attachment is conceived as an affectional tie that a baby forms to his mother figure, binding them together in space and enduring over time; such bonding is not present at birth, but develops during the first year of life. This chapter provides an overview of individual differences in attachment and attachment behavior as they are related to differences in maternal behavior in interaction with the infant. Although, the infant through his own idiosyncratic patterns of behavior, contributes to the interaction with his mother; however, the extent to which his mother goes along with, disregards, or opposes the implications of the babys behavioral cues makes a great deal of difference to the quality of the interaction. To the extent that it is the mothers contribution that emerges as the more important, it can be expected that information, advice, training, and or intervention might assist mothers to adopt practices likely to facilitate normal infant development. The chapter acknowledges that changes in the behavior of one partner may at some particular stage of the infant development and in regard to some specific aspect of mother-infant interaction trigger changes in the behavior of the other.

Maternal Affectionate Behavior and Infant-Mother Attachment Patterns.

Four categories of affectionate behavior were identified in the 23 mothers of Ainsworths longitudinal sample whose infants were observed in the strange situation at age 12 months. Mothers of babies classified as showing pattern A (anxiously attached and avoidant) in terms of their strange situation behavior were found to emphasize kissing proportionally more than the other mothers, and hugging/cuddling proportionally less. This is congruent with the previous finding that such mothers are averse to close bodily contact. Since mothers of pattern-A babies had also been found to be more rejecting, the findings suggest that rejection does not necessarily imply an absence of affectionate behavior but a different mode of expression.

A Consideration of Social Referencing in the Context of Attachment Theory and Research

As demonstrated by the chapters in this volume, the concept of social referencing refers to a diversity of phenomena observed by scholars from a variety of disciplines and divergent theoretical positions. Since attachment theory has eclectic underpinnings and is an open-ended theory, it is subject to revision, refinement, and extension in the light of further research. As what is meant by social referencing is better agreed upon, and as research into both it and attachment proceeds, it seems likely that its overlap with attachment will become clearer. Nevertheless, it is evident that there are even now important overlaps and areas of congruence. It is my hope that my comments here may help to clarify the degree of congruence that is already appreciable; there may well be more overlap between social referencing phenomena and attachment phenomena than I have included in this chapter.

Infant Approach Behavior as Related to Attachment.

The chief purpose of this study was to identify characteristics that distinguish approach as an attachment behavior from approach serving other behavioral systems. Locomotor approaches of 16 male and 10 female white middle-class infants to an attachment figure (the mother) and to a nonattachment figure (the visitor-observer) were examined under naturalistic conditions at home. Observations were made during 4-hour home visits at 3-week intervals; those from 26 to 54 weeks were used. When approach was examined in a free-choice situation and without regard to behavioral context, infants approached the mother proportionally (though slightly) more often than the visitor (p less than .05). In 2 behavioral contexts, however, spontaneous infant approaches were sharply differential to the mother; approaches accompanied by crying and approaches terminating in a pickup appeal were directed almost exclusively to the mother (p less than .0001 for both). Touching upon completion of the approach was not differential, except in the context of a pickup appeal. Object-oriented approaches were more often directed to the visitor than to the mother (p less than .002) and may be either exploratory or affiliative. It is suggested that neither approach nor touching can be assumed to serve the attachment system without consideration of context- both environmental and behavioral.

Reversible and Irreversible Effects of Maternal Deprivation on Intellectual Development

In this chapter I will deal with the effects of deprivation on intellectual function (rather than including effects on other aspects of personality function) partly because intellectual function has been so stressed in studies of maternal deprivation, partly because much of the controversy about the reversibility or irreversibility of effects has focused on intellectual function, and partly because I have reached what is to me a satisfying basis of resolving the controversial issues.

Discussion of Papers by Suomi and Bowlby

John Bowlby began his chapter (with acknowledgments to Robert Hinde) with a statement of six ways in which studies of animal behavior can contribute to a study of human behavior. Two of these pertain especially to experimental studies, two perhaps specifically to naturalistic studies, and two to studies of both types. Let me first consider experimental studies and their contributions with particular reference to Dr. Suomi’s chapter, and then turn to naturalistic studies, referring both to Dr. Bowlby’s paper and to some work of my own.