Life
Ainsworth was born in Glendale, Ohio in 1913, oldest of three sisters. parents both graduated from Dickinson College. Her father earned his Master's in History and was transferred to a manufacturing firm in Canada when Ainsworth was five. While her parents always put a strong emphasis on education, it was William McDougall's book Character and the Conduct of Life that inspired her interest in psychology.
Ainsworth enrolled in honors program in psychology at the University of Toronto in the fall of 1929. She earned her B.A. in 1935, her M.A. in 1936, and her Ph.D in 1939, all from the University of Toronto. She stayed to teach for a few years before joining the Canadian Women's Army Corp in 1942 in World War II, reaching the rank of Major in 1945.
She returned to Toronto to continue teaching personality psychology and conduct research. She married Leonard Ainsworth in 1950 and moved to London with him to allow him to finish his graduate degree at University College.
After many other academic positions, including a long tenure at Johns Hopkins University, she eventually settled at the University of Virginia in 1975, where she remained the rest of her academic career. Ainsworth received many honors, including the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Child Development in 1985 and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the APA in 1989. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.
Read more about this topic: Mary Ainsworth
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