The Psychology Book (88 page)

show that infants are attached

even stronger. Harlow, therefore,

crying child. The results of his

to people who do not perform

suggested that the main function

experiments were so conclusive

feeding and caretaking duties.

of nursing might even be to ensure

that they changed the approach to

1978
Michael Rutter shows

body contact with the mother.

parenting in the Western world. ■

that children bond with a

variety of attachment figures,

See also:
Konrad Lorenz 77 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■

including inanimate objects.

John Bowlby 274–77 ■ Mary Ainsworth 280–81 ■ Michael Rutter 339

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 279

WE PREPARE CHILDREN

FOR A LIFE ABOUT WHOSE

COURSE WE KNOW NOTHING

FRANCOISE DOLTO (1908–1988)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

F
ollowing her own difficult from the adults who teach them,

childhood, French physician

simply because they must have

and psychoanalyst Françoise

had experiences that the older

Dolto decided that her work should

generation could never have had

Psychoanalysis

help children discover and release

when they were that age.

BEFORE

their desires, believing that this

For Dolto, the goal of education

release would prevent neuroses.

was to allow each child the freedom

1924
Sigmund Freud theorizes

She felt that some of the illnesses

to explore his individual inclination.

about the castration anxiety

commonly manifested by children

The adult, she believed, should

children face, which Dolto says

were, in reality, reflections of a

serve as a role model, offering an

is a factor in our unconscious

lack of connection between parents

example rather than attempting to

image of our own bodies.

and their offspring. Adults, she

impart a method. The educator’s

1969
Jacques Lacan

observed, often seemed unable to

role, Dolto declared, was to teach

investigates “otherness,”

understand children, in spite of

children how to lead themselves. ■

which becomes central to

once being children themselves.

Dolto’s work focusing on the

distinctiveness of individuals.

Unique perspective

Dolto believed that every child

AFTER

possesses a unique perspective,

1973
A school based on

which traditional education seeks

Dolto’s theories opens in La

to stifle. She condemned any

It is too late to

Neuville-du-Bosc, France,

system of morality or education

make a difference

emphasizing well-being and

that seeks to control children

with adults; the work has

non-compulsory activities.

through obedience or imitation,

to be done with children.

and was dissatisfied with the

Françoise Dolto

1978
La Maison Verte, a

techniques being used, both at

daycare center based on

school and at home, to anticipate

Dolto’s ideas, opens in Paris,

a child’s future when that future

with the aim of helping

is fundamentally unknowable.

parents and children to

Children, she stated, are different

minimize the adverse

effects of separation.

See also:
Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Alfred Adler 100–01 ■ Jacques Lacan 122–23 ■

Daniel Lagache 336–37

280

A SENSITIVE MOTHER

CREATES A SECURE

ATTACHMENT

MARY AINSWORTH (1913–1999)

Situation,” which studied how

IN CONTEXT

I
n the early 1950s, Mary

Ainsworth, working closely

babies balance their needs for

with attachment theorist John

attachment and exploration under

APPROACH

Bowlby, developed a particular

varying levels of stress. In each

Attachment theory

interest in the relationship between

experiment, Ainsworth placed

BEFORE

mothers and infants. In 1969, she

a mother and her one-year-old baby

1950s
John Bowlby

experimented with a procedure

in a room with toys for the baby

emphasizes the significance

that became known as the “Strange

to play with, and watched their

of the mother-child bond.

1959
Harry Harlow’s research

with infant macaque monkeys

demonstrates that they use an

When an infant is
separated from his mother
he displays

one of three different kinds of attachment.

attachment figure as a secure

base from which to explore

their environment.

AFTER

1980
American psychologist

Brian E. Vaughn shows that

If he shows no signs

If he shows intense signs

the attachment figure may

of distress and a stranger

of distress but resists

change, according to

is able to comfort him,

contact with her on her

variations in a family’s

the attachment is

return, the attachment is

circumstances.

anxious-avoidant.

anxious-resistant.

1990
American psychologist

Mary Main identifies a fourth

attachment type in young

children—“disorganized”—to

describe an infant who is

fearful of both the environment

If he is distressed, but upon her return

and the attachment figure.

uses her as a secure base from which to explore,

there is a secure attachment.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 281

See also:
Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ John Bowlby 274–77 ■ Harry Harlow 278 ■ Jerome Kagan 339 ■ Michael Rutter 339

return. She suggested that a baby’s

reactions upon reunion with his

mother indicate three distinct

patterns, or types, of attachment.

Attachment types

Attachment behavior is

Around 70 percent of the babies in

strongly activated under

Ainsworth’s studies were “securely

circumstances when the

attached.” These infants used their

attachment figure is

mothers “as a secure base from

inaccessible.

which to explore.” They were

Mary Ainsworth

distressed when she left the room,

but played happily, even in the

presence of a stranger, as long as

the mother was on hand if needed.

The babies who appeared to be

indifferent to their mothers, and

were hardly affected when she left

Mothers in non-Western
cultures

interactions both before and after

the room, Ainsworth classified as

often keep their infants close to them

the introduction of a stranger to

“anxious-avoidant.” They were as

at all times. Customs such as these

can affect the incidence of different

the room. The “situation” included

easily comforted by the stranger

attachment types in a community.

periods when the mother left the

as by the mother. About 15 percent

baby alone with the stranger, then

of the infants fell into this group.

returned to the room.

A further 15 percent, described

Ainsworth claimed that a mother’s

Ainsworth found that the

as “anxious-resistant,” were wary of

sensitivity largely determines the

most important information about

the stranger, even with the mother

type of attachment. A sensitive

mother-child bonding was gleaned

present. They became intensely

mother, she stated, understands

not from the baby’s reaction to the

distressed when the mother left the

her child’s needs and responds

mother leaving the room, but rather

room, but were also angry and

appropriately to them, creating

from the infant’s reaction to her

resistant to contact on her return.

a secure attachment.

Criticism

In 1954, the couple moved to

Mary Ainsworth

Critics of Ainsworth’s work have

Uganda, where Leonard had

suggested that attachment types

Mary Ainsworth was born in

accepted a post, and Mary took

Glendale, Ohio, USA, moving

the opportunity to study mother-

are not always permanent, and that

to Canada at the age of five.

child bonding in tribal society.

babies do not fit neatly into a single

She gained her doctorate in

On returning to the US in 1956,

type. Cultural differences have also

psychology from the University

she continued her academic

been noted. A 1990 study in Japan

of Toronto in 1939, and taught

career, eventually becoming a

uncovered an unusually high

there briefly before joining the

professor at the University of

percentage of anxious-resistant

Canadian Women’s Army Corps

Virginia in 1975.

infants, which may have been due

in 1942. After World War II, she

to Japanese babies being less used

returned to the University of

Key works

to separation from their mothers

Toronto, marrying graduate

than US infants. However, the

student Leonard Ainsworth in

1967
Infancy in Uganda

Strange Situation is considered to

1950 and moving to London,

1971
Infant Obedience and

be one of the most important studies

where Mary worked with John

Maternal Behavior

in attachment research, and is still

Bowlby at the Tavistock Clinic.

1978
Patterns of Attachment

widely replicated today. ■