2004 Awardees

David R Pederson Greg Moran For Observational Studies Of Maternal Sensitivity

Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s insights into the nature and development of infant-mother attachment drew upon diverse disciplines including ethology, clinical and developmental psychology, and control systems theory. They hoped training in all these areas would become the standard for attachment researchers. Their collaboration over more than 20 years illustrates the great value of integrating these disciplines.

Their studies of maternal sensitivity are outstanding examples of work in the ethological-observational tradition that Bowlby and Ainsworth considered central to attachment study. Their work has significantly improved the economics and quantification of extended naturalistic observation. In addition to solving a difficult measurement problem, their Maternal Sensitivity Q-set is an apprenticeship in behavior observation and the organization of infant-mother interactions.

Their sense for relationships is also evident in the sensitive, cooperative, available, and accepting support they afforded the many students they have trained in attachment study at the University of Western Ontario.