Which psychologist is associated with the Strange Situation and the observation of infant attachment patterns?

• A. Konrad Lorenz
• B. Harry Harlow
• C. Mary Ainsworth
• D. Sigmund Freud

Answer: (C)

The main idea is assessing infant attachment through a standardized observation of how a baby responds to separations and reunions with a caregiver and a stranger. The Strange Situation was designed to see whether the infant uses the caregiver as a secure base, how they react to the caregiver leaving, and how they respond when the caregiver returns. This method reveals distinct attachment patterns—secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant/ambivalent, and later disorganized—that researchers use to understand early bonds and their effects on later development.

Mary Ainsworth developed this procedure and used it to identify and describe these attachment patterns, making her the psychologist most closely associated with the Strange Situation. Her work built on John Bowlby’s attachment theory, but it was her observational method that operationalized how to categorize infant attachment.

Other figures contributed to related ideas in development—Konrad Lorenz studied imprinting in animals, Harry Harlow explored comfort and attachment with surrogate mothers in monkeys, and Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory. The Strange Situation specifically reflects Ainsworth’s contribution to measuring how early relationships manifest in infants.