From secure dependency to attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s integration of Blatz’s security theory into Bowlby’s attachment theory.

Abstract

John Bowlby is generally regarded as the founder of attachment theory, with the help of Mary Ainsworth. Through her Uganda and Baltimore studies Ainsworth provided empirical evidence for attachment theory, and she contributed the notion of the secure base and exploratory behavior, the Strange Situation Procedure and its classification system, and the notion of maternal sensitivity. On closer scrutiny, many of these contributions appear to be heavily influenced by William Blatz and his security theory. Even though Blatz's influence on Ainsworth has been generally acknowledged, this article, partly based on understudied correspondence from several personal archives, is the first to show which specific parts of attachment theory can be traced back directly to Blatz and his security theory. When Ainsworth started working with Bowlby in the 1950s, around the time he turned to evolutionary theory for an explanation of his findings, she integrated much of Blatzian security theory into Bowlby's theory in the making and used her theoretical and practical experience to enrich attachment theory. Even though Blatz is hardly mentioned nowadays, several of his ideas live on in attachment theory.

Intimate Partner Violence on College Campuses: An Appraisal of Emerging Perspectives

“…According to Bowlby's attachment theory, human infants need a positive relationship with their caregivers to develop into healthy individuals (Rosmalen, Horst, & Veer, 2016). A negative relationship, in addition to dealing with parental unavailability or unresponsiveness, may contribute to aberrant behavior.…”

“…When children observe violence between parents, they learn that violence is an acceptable or effective means for resolving conflicts (Rosmalen, et al, 2016). An earlier study by Kaufman and Ziegler (1987) reported that 30% of individuals who witnessed violence during their childhood become violent in their adulthood.…”

Before Attachment Theory: Separation Research at the Tavistock Clinic, 1948–1956

“…Ainsworth (born Salter in 1918) had completed her undergraduate and graduate training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, conducting research under the supervision of William E. Blatz (1895–1964), Canadian psychologist and first director of the Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto. While an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Blatz had been in charge of a longitudinal study on the development and social “adjustment” of normal children in a laboratory nursery (Van Rosmalen, Van der Horst, & Van der Veer, ). Funded by the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene and Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, Blatz's research project was one of the first empirical longitudinal studies of child development in North America, which was inspired by the Child Study Movement of G. Stanley Hall (1896–1924) and his followers in American psychology.…”

“…Funded by the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene and Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, Blatz's research project was one of the first empirical longitudinal studies of child development in North America, which was inspired by the Child Study Movement of G. Stanley Hall (1896–1924) and his followers in American psychology. During the 1920s and 1930s, Blatz had continued to carry out prospective examinations of children's social adjustments and lectured on topics that would posthumously published and recognized as his “security theory” (Van Rosmalen, Van der Veer, & Van der Horst, ; Van Rosmalen, Van der Horst, & Van der Veer, ).…”

“…She wrote her dissertation on Blatz's security theory between 1936 and 1939, designing an instrument to measure security in young adults (Salter, ). After earning her PhD, Ainsworth was appointed lecturer at the University of Toronto where she taught and co‐directed a research team with Blatz until 1950 (Van Rosmalen, Van der Horst, & van der Veer, ). During this time, Ainsworth continued to develop scales for assessing security.…”