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Letters from Ainsworth: Contesting the ‘Organization’ of Attachment

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Letters from Ainsworth: Contesting the ‘Organization’ of Attachment COMMENTARY . Letters from Ainsworth: Contesting the ‘Organization’ of Attachment Sophie Landa BA Hons1; Robbie Duschinsky PhD2 █ Abstract As Main (1999) noted in her obituary for Mary Ainsworth, ‘she was interacting weekly by letter and manuscript with her mentor and friend, John Bowlby, and their academic correspondence formed an important part of her, and implicitly our, life.’ These letters of Ainsworth to John Bowlby during the 1980s, available in the Wellcome Trust Library in London, contain valuable reflections on the work of her pupils to extend her system of classifying infant behaviour in the Strange Situation Procedure. Mary Main proposed a D classification and interpreted such behaviour as a breakdown in anABC strategy caused by a conflict between a disposition to approach and flee from the caregiver. Patricia Crittenden extended the subtypes of A and C, using a developmental model of information processing, and observed that they could be used together in A/C combinations. These letters offer insight into Ainsworth’s intellectual rationale for encouraging both Main and Crittenden in their conflicting endeavours. Key Words: Ainsworth, Main, Crittenden, attachment, organization █ Résumé Comme l’a noté Main (1999) dans son article nécrologique sur Mary Ainsworth: « Elle communiquait chaque semaine par lettre et manuscrit avec son mentor et ami, John Bowlby, et leur correspondance scientifique a constitué une part importante de sa vie, et implicitement, de la nôtre. » Ces lettres d’Ainsworth à John Bowlby durant les années 1980, qu’on peut consulter à la Wellcome Trust Library de Londres, renferment des réflexions valables sur le travail de ses élèves visant à étendre son système de classification du comportement des bébés à la procédure de la situation étrange. Mary Main a proposé une catégorie D et interprété ce comportement comme étant une rupture de la stratégie ABC causée par un conflit entre la propension à s’approcher de la personne soignante et à l’éviter. Patricia Crittenden a étoffé les sous- types A et C, à l’aide d’un modèle développemental de traitement de l’information, et observé qu’ils pouvaient être utilisés ensemble dans des combinaisons A/C. Ces lettres offrent des aperçus du raisonnement intellectuel d’Ainsworth qui la poussait à encourager Main et Crittenden dans leurs entreprises conflictuelles. Mots clés: Ainsworth, Main, Crittenden, attachement, organisation Introduction classified as Anxious-Avoidant (Group A) did not exhibit ohn Bowlby (1960) observed that separation from an distress on separation, and ignored the caregiver on their attachment figure would serve as a source of anxiety return. Infants classified as Secure (Group B) used the care- J giver as a safe base from which to explore, protested at their and trigger the attachment system. Based on this insight, departure but sought the caregiver upon his or her return. Mary Ainsworth and her assistant Barbara Wittig designed Ainsworth and Wittig noted, however, a third category of a structured laboratory situation to examine individual dif- behaviour in a minority of cases. These infants, classified as ferences in the responses of 56 middle-class non-clinical Anxious-Ambivalent/Resistant (Group C), showed distress infants aged 11 months to the departure of a caregiver. They on separation, and were clingy and difficult to comfort on termed this the Strange Situation Procedure. Two categories the caregiver’s return. These patterns were found to be ap- were initially proposed by Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) for plicable cross-culturally, and predictive of a range of later coding patterns in infant responses to their study. Infants outcomes for the child (Bretherton, 1985). Landa and Duschinsky 1Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom 2Northumbria University, Social Work, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom Corresponding E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: September 25, 2012; Accepted: October 13, 2012 172 J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 22:2, May 2013 Letters from Ainsworth: Contesting the ‘Organization’ of Attachment From the late 1970s, however, with the support of new between ‘approach, withdrawal and anger’ (Main, 1981). video-recording technologies, researchers began to note This shift is framed as a ‘conditional strategy for main- behaviours that did not fit Ainsworth and Wittig’s classi- taining proximity under conditions of maternal rejection.’ fications for coding Strange Situation Procedures. These Avoidance serves proximity in two ways: it keeps the care- behaviours included combinations of A and C behaviour, giver relatively near without alienating him or her through signs of disorientation, and infants’ fear of their own care- approach behaviour; it helps the infant ‘gain control over, giver. However, as Egeland and Sroufe (1981) noted, most i.e. flexibility in his own behaviour, a thing he will not have of the infants displaying such behaviours were placed in should he... break into disorganised distress’ (Main, 1977). B, Secure, as the best available fit for classifying their re- As such ‘this shift of attention is in fact only an attempt to union behaviour. What could be the cause and significance reorganise or to maintain organisation’ (Main, 1981). Type of these behaviours? Riding on this issue was the very A behaviour is ‘a search for control when disorganisation meaning of attachment, and the validity and reliability of threatens,’ and is continuous with disorganisation to the ex- the Strange Situation Procedure. Different answers to this tent that it is ineffective at successfully diverting attention question emerged in the early 1980s from two former pupils from the conflict between approach, withdrawal and anger of Ainsworth: Mary Main and Patricia Crittenden. (Main, 1981). Main therefore theorised Type A behaviour not primarily as characterised by avoidance of the caregiver but as ‘avoidance of behavioural disorganisation’ in the ser- Extending Ainsworth: Main vice of proximity (Main, 1981). Main relates that from graduate school she ‘had already been intrigued by odd-appearing behaviors of animals in In Main’s doctoral research, she had asked her undergradu- conflict situations (see Hinde 1966) and – after observing ate coders to compile a list of ‘odd behaviours,’ and these one “unclassifiable” infant in her doctoral study fling her had included ‘hand-flapping; echolalia; inappropriate af- arms about her head while in an anomalous position on fect; and other behaviours appearing out of context’ (Main, parent entrance – Main continued to pursue the problem 1977). This list was expanded and coalesced into indices of “unclassifiable” infants in this light’ (Main, Hesse, & of a new attachment category through discussions between Hesse, 2011). She set out by analysing these behaviours in Main and her graduate student Judith Solomon, who ‘em- her sample of infants aged 12 months as extreme or failed phasized the importance of the existence of unclassifiable responses to the predicament of avoidant infants, given that patterns of infant behavior’ (Main & Weston, 1981). Com- she expected avoidance to be ‘highly predictive of interac- menting on these investigations of anomalous cases by tive and affective disturbance’ (1974). This focus must be Main’s lab, Ainsworth wrote to Bowlby on June 6, 1979: ‘I seen in the context of Bowlby’s (1973) emphasis, in the sec- really do think that she is doing exciting things. Very cre- ond volume of his trilogy, on the significance of an infant’s ative.’ From 1980-1981, Main began to note that avoidant avoidance of the caregiver on reunion as the key indicator infants can at least direct their attention away from the con- of attachment pathology. flicting demands of the attachment system to both approach and flee from the caregiver. By contrast, other infants ap- On February 1, 1974, Ainsworth wrote to Bowlby that ‘we peared so overcome by this conflict that they could not de- have found plenty of evidence that the mothers of A babies velop any coherent strategy for achieving proximity with dislike physical contact, and that it is through behaviour their caregiver in the Strange Situation. For instance, Main relevant to physical contact that they (at least in large part) came to reconceptualise ‘approach-avoidance’ behaviour, express rejection. Mary’s theory is that this puts babies in a in which the infant combines proximity-seeking with sud- double bind, for they are programmed to want contact and denly veering away, not as an extreme form of avoidance yet are rebuffed (or at least have unpleasant experiences) (e.g. Main 1980) but as a sign of what Main and Solomon when they seek it. Mary’s hypothesis is that the avoid- began to call type ‘D.’ ance (detachment-like) defensive behaviour characteristic of A babies stems from the double-bind.’ Ainsworth wrote to Bowlby that ‘I believe that we now really have a better Extending Ainsworth: Crittenden In May 1983, Crittenden completed her doctorate under ‘handle on’ the difference between A and C babies. I must Ainsworth at the University of Virginia. Crittenden con- say that this is largely due to Mary Main (letter of March ducted Strange Situation Procedures with 73 infants and 12, 1976). Beyond this particular analysis of conflict be- toddlers, most of whom had been severely maltreated. Crit- haviour, Ainsworth’s letters to Bowlby show admiration for tenden noted that ‘not all infants can be placed easily into Main’s efforts: ‘She is clearly dedicated to her work,’ Ain- the three
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