Attachment Style According to Ainsworth

Discovering one's attachment style can prove to be both enriching and interesting. Through this discovery one can get a better understanding of one of the many different aspects of one's personality. Through the carefully created questionnaire I was able to discover my infant attachment style; a securely attached, type B infant. I found that the behaviors I had as a child were supported by past research, in specific research conducted by Mary Ainsworth.

Ainsworth asserted that there were three types of attachment styles during child development. They consisted of the securely attached baby (type B), the insecure/anxious-avoidant baby (type A), and the insecure/anxious-resistant baby (type C) (Santrock, 1999). These three attachment styles can be easily discovered through observations of the child's behavior and/or a series of simple questions. From the questionnaire created it was quickly apparent that I was a type B baby since I showed almost no characteristics of the other two types. In specific, I tended to explore my surrounding f

Santrock, J., W. (1999). Life-span development ( 7th ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill College.

Blehar, M., C., Liebermann, A., F., & Ainsworth, M., D., S. (1977). Early face-to-face interaction and its relation to later infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 48, 182-194.

The research mentioned above seems to be a clear indication of my attachment style. I found it interesting to discover that I fit almost perfectly into the type B category. Through Ainsworth contribution, many individuals, like myself, are able to discover yet another layer of their psyche that has helped to shape them into the person that they are today.

Another important characteristic that my mother mentioned was my affectionate behavior. It was very common for us to cuddle and hug each other; I both instigated affection and accepted it. Ainsworth and Russel (1981) reported that this is a common behavior of type B babies. Also, their study revealed that mothers of type B babies were found to have displayed more affectionate behavior than mothers of type A or C babies. In another study Blehar, Liebermann, and Ainsworth (1977) divided the type B baby into two subgroups, type B3,

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Approximate Word count = 791
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)