REPORTERS:  Only the 3:30 p.m. event described below is open to the
public.  However, reporters are invited to both the morning and
afternoon events.

U.VA. TO HONOR PROFESSOR'S LANDMARK RESEARCH
IN MOTHER-CHILD ATTACHMENT

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 23 -- Faculty, students and
alumni of the University of Virginia's psychology department will
pay tribute on Dec. 1 to professor emerita Mary D. S. Ainsworth on
her 82nd birthday to recognize her pioneering work in
child-attachment theories.
	At 10:30 a.m. in the Garrett Hall Conference Room a panel of
her former graduate students will discuss "The Ainsworth Legacy."
Panelists will include Jude Cassidy, a developmental psychologist at
Pennsylvania State University, and Roger Kobak, a child clinical
psychologist at the University of Delaware. U.Va. participants will
include Robert Marvin, a pediatric clinical psychologist at the
Medical Center, and Deborah Cohn, a psychology instructor.
	At 3:30 p.m. in Room 190 of Gilmer Hall, another former
graduate student, Mary Main, professor at the University of
California at Berkeley, will deliver an address, "Mary Ainsworth:
Some  Implications and Extensions of Her Work."
	In 1954 Ainsworth conducted research on mother-infant
behavior in Africa; she identified attachment behaviors in the
resulting book, "Infancy in Uganda," published in 1967.  After her
work in Africa, she joined the psychology department at Johns
Hopkins University, where she designed the "Strange Situation," a
laboratory procedure to assess the response of an infant, whether
alone or in the company of a stranger, to the exit and return of the
mother. 
	From her observations Ainsworth identified three distinct
patterns of bonds infants form with their parents, particularly
their mothers, in the first years of life.  Ainsworth discovered
that infants who receive warm, sensitive care become securely
attached and that secure attachment gives the child autonomy.
Published in 1969, her findings marked a critical shift in
perceptions about infancy and child-rearing, noted Richard McCarty,
chairman of U.Va.'s psychology department.
	"Ainsworth's work was seminal, leading to hundreds of
studies by researchers in the U.S. and abroad on the etiology and
outcomes of different kinds of attachment and the association of
attachment patterns with social relationships over the life span, "
McCarty said.
	Ainsworth left Johns Hopkins to join the U.Va. faculty as
Commonwealth Professor of Psychology in 1974.  She retired in 1984
and was elected to emeritus status.
	Ainsworth's work has had an enduring effect not only on the
field of development psychology, but on U.Va.'s department as well,
McCarty noted.  "She brought a focus on development psychology that
has attracted top faculty in developmental psychology and related
areas who are contributing research of lasting value," he said.
	McCarty noted that although U.S. News and World Report
magazine has ranked U.Va.'s psychology department among the top 25
in the nation the past two years, it has consistently cited the
University's developmental psychology program as the second
strongest in the country.
	"The strength of the department today can be attributed in
great measure to Mary Ainsworth's teaching, her care in supervising
research of graduate students and the recognition her research,
theories and publications have brought, "McCarty said.  "We are
proud to present a tribute to her."
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November 22, 1995
FOR MORE INFORMATION contact Richard McCarty at (804) 982-4730.