Ainsworth and colleagues ( 1974 ) developed an assessment in which a rater evaluates the

caregiver's sensitivity towards their infant on a 9-point scale.

For example, a caregiver that
receives a rating of 9 would be viewed, among other things, as highly attuned to the infant's
emotional signals, responds quickly and appropriately to the infant's distress, etc. What
appears to be the chief drawback of such a global assessment of caregiver sensitivity?
A) More contemporary research has documented that it is not a valid way to assess
caregiver behavior.
B) The rater may witness the caregiver's behavior on a "bad day", which may not accurately
reflect the caregiver's ordinary behavior.
C) Although such ratings are tied to some aspects of the infant's actual behavior, for
example, caregivers who receive low ratings have babies that cry more, the ratings do
not predict other key variables, such as the development of infant attachment.
D) Only a highly trained coder familiar with the construct could complete this scale.

D