Revisiting Mary Ainsworth’s conceptualization and assessments of maternal sensitivity-insensitivity

Abstract

This paper describes the evolution of Ainsworth’s construct of maternal sensitivity-insensitivity to infant signals from its beginnings in her research in Uganda to its explicit emergence in the findings from the Baltimore study. It provides an analysis of her bipolar Maternal Care Scales (Sensivity-Insensitivity, Cooperation-Interference, Acceptance-Rejection, and Accessibility-Ignoring and Neglecting) and associated findings from the Baltimore study, including studies of specific maternal and infant interactive behaviors also rooted in the sensitivity construct. In addition, the four Maternal Care ratings of observed maternal behavior in the home environment are considered in relation to Strange Situation subgroups and Ainsworth’s home classifications of infant attachment and exploratory behavior. A brief comparison of Ainworth’s with Bowlby’s contributions follows. The paper ends with a discussion of Ainsworth’s approach to science.

Keywords:

• maternal sensitivity
• narrative records
• home observations
• mother–infant interaction
• attachment
• scientific methods

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this paper to Mary Ainsworth, my challenging and supportive doctoral advisor. I would like to thank Klaus Grossmann and Everett Waters for helpful suggestions and my husband for his sensitive patience while I was writing this article.