Mary Ainsworth
Mary Ainsworth a Prominent Woman of Psychology
PSY/310
October 30, 2010
Mary Ainsworth a Prominent Woman of Psychology
Mary D. Salter- Ainsworth was born in Glendale, Ohio in December of 1913. Her parents were both academics at Dickenson College. Her father majored in history, while Mary’s mother focused on teaching and nursing. According to her biography, Mary and her two sisters grew up in a very “close-knit family” (Ainsworth, 1983). The importance of education was definitely impressed upon the girls at an early age, and weekly trips to the library were a regular event. In 1918, when Mary was just five years old, Mary’s father received a job in Toronto and moved his entire family to Canada. As a teenager, Mary read William McDougall’s book, Character and the Conduct of Life. This insightful book spurred the idea in Mary that one could look into one’s self for explanation, and she became enthralled with the study of psychology. At the age of sixteen Mary enrolled into the honors psychology program at the University of Toronto. Mary would go onto earning her Masters and PhD in developmental psychology, all from the University of Toronto. Mary taught at the university for three years before enlisting in the Canadian Army in 1945, where she eventually became a Major. Mary spent four years in the Army working for the personnel placement department. Ainsworth would get her first taste of clinical psychology there, which changed her perspective of it and would also change her carrier direction post WWII. After her four year military tour, Ainsworth went back to Toronto to resume teaching psychology. Ainsworth wanted to figure out a way of splitting up personality psychology with a professor that already had the position, and was turned onto the assessment of personality. Not confident in her own knowledge of the subject material, Ainsworth attended a summer course on Rorschach technique. Ainsworth immersed herself deeply into projective and
PSY/310
October 30, 2010
Mary Ainsworth a Prominent Woman of Psychology
Mary D. Salter- Ainsworth was born in Glendale, Ohio in December of 1913. Her parents were both academics at Dickenson College. Her father majored in history, while Mary’s mother focused on teaching and nursing. According to her biography, Mary and her two sisters grew up in a very “close-knit family” (Ainsworth, 1983). The importance of education was definitely impressed upon the girls at an early age, and weekly trips to the library were a regular event. In 1918, when Mary was just five years old, Mary’s father received a job in Toronto and moved his entire family to Canada. As a teenager, Mary read William McDougall’s book, Character and the Conduct of Life. This insightful book spurred the idea in Mary that one could look into one’s self for explanation, and she became enthralled with the study of psychology. At the age of sixteen Mary enrolled into the honors psychology program at the University of Toronto. Mary would go onto earning her Masters and PhD in developmental psychology, all from the University of Toronto. Mary taught at the university for three years before enlisting in the Canadian Army in 1945, where she eventually became a Major. Mary spent four years in the Army working for the personnel placement department. Ainsworth would get her first taste of clinical psychology there, which changed her perspective of it and would also change her carrier direction post WWII. After her four year military tour, Ainsworth went back to Toronto to resume teaching psychology. Ainsworth wanted to figure out a way of splitting up personality psychology with a professor that already had the position, and was turned onto the assessment of personality. Not confident in her own knowledge of the subject material, Ainsworth attended a summer course on Rorschach technique. Ainsworth immersed herself deeply into projective and
References: Stony Brook University. (2010). Psychology Department. Retrieved from http://psychology.psy.sunysb.edu/psychology/ Bretherton, I. (2010). Mary Ainsworth: Insightful Observer and Courageous Theoretician. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved from http://mda_indge.pdf Bretherton, I. (1992). The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://inge_origins1.pdf