Final answer:
Ainsworth identified three types of attachment styles: secure, avoidant, and resistant.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ainsworth identified three types of attachment styles based on the way infants/toddlers responded to separation and reunion with their caregivers. These attachment styles are:
- Secure attachment: In this style, the child prefers the parent over a stranger, uses the parent as a secure base to explore the environment, and seeks out the parent in times of stress.
- Avoidant attachment: The child is unresponsive to the parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if the parent leaves. They react to the parent the same way they react to a stranger.
- Resistant attachment: Children with this attachment style show clingy behavior, but also reject the parent's attempts to interact with them. They are too fearful to explore the toys in the room and become extremely disturbed and angry when separated from the parent.
The three types of attachment styles identified by Mary Ainsworth are secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and resistant attachment. In secure attachment, children use the parent as a secure base to explore and seek comfort from during stress, showing distress when separated but happiness upon reunion.
With avoidant attachment, children are indifferent toward the parent and do not seek them for comfort or security, showing little response if the parent leaves or returns. Lastly, resistant attachment is seen in children who exhibit clingy behavior but resist the caregiver's attempt to interact, showing extreme distress during separation and difficulty being comforted upon reunion.
Ainsworth's work also acknowledged a later identified fourth style, disorganized attachment, by Main and Solomon, which is not typically included in the initial three identified patterns.