Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation
About this ebook
Patterns of Attachment
reports the methods and key results of Ainsworth’s landmark Baltimore Longitudinal Study. Following upon her naturalistic home observations in Uganda, the Baltimore project yielded a wealth of enduring, benchmark results on the nature of the child’s tie to its primary caregiver and the importance of early experience. It also addressed a wide range of conceptual and methodological issues common to many developmental and longitudinal projects, especially issues of age appropriate assessment, quantifying behavior, and comprehending individual differences. In addition, Ainsworth and her students broke new ground, clarifying and defining new concepts, demonstrating the value of the ethological methods and insights about behavior.Today, as we enter the fourth generation of attachment study, we have a rich and growing catalogue of behavioral and narrative approaches to measuring attachment from infancy to adulthood. Each of them has roots in the Strange Situation and the secure base concept presented in Patterns of Attachment. It inclusion in the Psychology Press Classic Editions series reflects Patterns of Attachment’s continuing significance and insures its availability to new generations of students, researchers, and clinicians.
About the author
Mary D. Salter Ainsworth, Ph.D. was Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia.
Mary C. Blehar, Ph.D. is affiliated with the National Institutes of Health.
Everett Waters, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Sally N. Wall, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Notre Dame of Maryland University.
