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Ainsworth, Mary D.

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Mary Ainsworth was aresearcher, experimenter, author, and prominent contributor to the field of personality and developmental psychology. She is most recognized for her involvement in early emotional attachment, and her development of the Attachment Theory.

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Mary Ainsworth was born into astrong and supportive family in Glendale, Ohio in 1913. Her mother and father both had educational degrees, and her father received apromotion which required the family to move to Canada when Ainsworth was 5 years old. Ten years later, at age 15, Ainsworth read abook entitled Character and the Conduct of Life, by William McDougall, which changed her life forever, setting the path for her career in psychology.

In 1935, Mary Ainsworth graduated from the University of Toronto, along with honors in psychology. In1936, she earned her master’s degree, and finally her Ph.D. in 1939 all from the same college. She met Leonard Ainsworth in 1950, and they married and moved to London....

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Correspondence to Ashley Scarlett Bujalski .

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Bujalski, A.S. (2012). Ainsworth, Mary D.. In: Rieber, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_323

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_323

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0425-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0463-8

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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