2007 Awardees

L. Alan Sroufe

A Founder Of Modern Attachment Study and The Most Influential Developmentalist Of His Generation

Alan Sroufe's contributions to modern attachment study are legion. Most importantly, he has played the leading role in integrating attachment theory with a broader developmental perspective. This work is reflected in his widely cited articles on attachment as an organizational construct, the coherence of individual development, attachment and developmental psychopathology, and in his books on emotional development. The multi-generational Minnesota Longitudinal study he conducted with Byron Egeland and W. Andrew Collins stands alongside Mary Ainsworth's Baltimore study as an unparalleled landmark in developmental research. In addition to his theoretical and research contributions, Dr. Sroufe has been a generaous and enthusiastic mentor, both in his work with students at Minnseota and with the students and colleagues who have participated in his training seminars on attachment assessment.

Mary Dozier

For Translational Research On Adoption: Applying Attachment Theory On Behalf Of Adults Offering Care And Infants And Children Seeking Security

John Bolwby was committed to the the idea that a good attachment theory would have prompt and significant implications for therapy and children in difficult situations. Mary Dozier has made singular contributions in both of these areas. Her work on the implications of attachment theory and assessment for adoption and foster care represent the long delayed realization of Bowlby's fondest hopes - to help children who have experienced parental loss. Few areas of attachment study involve such a difficult array of theoretical, methodological, and logistical problems. In addition to her singular work on attachment and adoption/forter care, Dr. Dozier was among the first to bring significant clinicial experience and research skills together to bridge the gap between attachment theory and clinical practice. Her work on attachment and psychopathology in adulthood has set a standard for careful work in this difficult area.

In all of her work, Mary Dozier has displayed the scholarship and service that John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth shared, taught, and valued. In addition, she is esteemed as a colleague and mentor in the Bowlby-Ainsworth tradition.

Special Award: Joseph D. Lichtenberg, M.D.

For Early Support to Mary Ainsworth and for Wise Clinically Informed Commentary at the Interface Between Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis

Joseph Lichtenberg is a distinguished contributor to psychoanalytic theory and therapy. His classic book, Psychoanalysis and Motivation (The Analytic Press, 1989) provides an original post ego-psychology alternative to traditional drive theory. Built upon a long career in practice and a careful survey of modern research on biopsychology and infant socio-emotional development, the book makes the important point that attachment is only one of several different motivational systems that might be central in a particular clinical case.

Prior to her appointment faculty appointment at At Johns Hopkins University, Mary Ainsworth worked under Dr. Lichtenberg's supervision as a psychodiagnostician at the Sheppard-Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. This award recognizes especially the friendship and support Dr. Lichtenberg extended to Mary Ainsworth in an era when women found little in the way of encouragement or loyal support in professional settings. These were some of the happiest years of Mary's life and they played a major role in in her later work in her becoming the Mary Ainsworth we all knew and loved.