This book provides a comprehensive and insightful psychosocial analysis of human development across the lifespan. It encompasses a vast array of purported psychosocial developmental theories which are applicable to all practices within the helping professions and in general, corresponds primarily to the course of a human life. This book has 12 chapters where chapter contents include: the birth of a human being: what makes us who we are; a secure base: the importance of attachment; adolescence, identity and change; family systems and their life cycle; growing up with a disability and; themes in old age. Each chapter is supplemented with a brief summary and an activity section which allows readers an opportunity to become more engaged with chapter contents as well as facilitate critical thinking. The book concludes with a references and index section.
Beckett and Taylor in chapters 3 through 5 and 8 covered the principles of attachment, cognitive development, behaviorism and the family systems theory respectively. Attachment theory “is based on the proposition that the way we relate to others throughout our lives is shaped by our first relationship with our primary carer, who traditionally and still usually is the mother” (p. 41). Key to the development of attachment theory is John Bowlby who is affectionately dubbed the “father” of attachment theory (p. 41). Bowlby’s theory asserts that external factors influence a child’s development; particularly the impact of separation
Bowlby’s attachment theory has greatly influenced practice. His theory of attachment explains the importance of having a figure that the child shares a strong bond with. Having an attachment can significantly support a child’s development as Barbara Woods suggests that “his theory of attachment proposed that attachment is innate in both infants and mothers, and that the formation of this attachment is crucial for the infants development” Wood, B (2001, p.53). Bowlby believed that forming an attachment will help a child develop in all areas e.g. emotionally, physical and mentally. However if they did not form an attachment in the sensitive period, the child may have issues or problems in their cognitive, emotional and social development.
Attachment theory, put forth by John Bowlby, is in agreement with Freudian psychoanalytic theory in that our early experiences with caregivers shape our adult ability to love. In contrast to psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory focuses on what Bowlby called the attachment response (Belsky, 2013, p. 15-16). Basically, we are genetically pre-programmed to form attachments with others because this will help us survive (McLeod, 2007). Bowlby believed in monotropy, which is an attachment conceptualized as being a vital and close bond with just one attachment figure, typically the mother. This attachment to the mother is the most important and if it is broken or disrupted during the critical two-year period the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences of this maternal deprivation. This risk continues until the age of 5 (McLeod, 2007). So, based on this, a child who is 4 or 5 and whose parents are going through a divorce may experience a disrupted attachment to the mother due to diminished or incompetent parenting. Long-term consequences of maternal deprivation might include delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased aggression, depression and affectionless psychopathy. Attachment theory, just as in
Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space (Bowlby, 1969). Likewise, attachment theory is a psychological model that seeks to illustrate the dynamics of both long term and short- term interpersonal relationships (Waters, E.; Corcoran, D.; Anafarta, M. 2005). Additionally, attachment theory address how people respond within relationships when hurt, separated from loved ones, or when they perceive a threat (Waters et al., 2005). Attachment theory is the combined work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Bretherton, I. 1992, p. 1). The theory predominantly draws on the ideas from doctrines such as, ethology, cybernetics, information processing and developmental psychology (Bretherton, I. 1992, p. 1). It is considered that attachment theory has revolutionized the way society thinks about the relationship between the mother and her child and the importance of
One of the most important factors that affect child development is the relationship of the child with their primary caregiver. This is a tenet of developmental psychology known as attachment theory. John Bowlby, the creator of this theory, wanted to examine how early childhood experiences influence personality development. Attachment theory specifically examines infant’s reactions to being separated from their primary caregiver. Bowlby hypothesized that the differences in how children react to these situations demonstrates basic behavioral differences in infancy that will have consequences for later social and emotional development.
Modern attachment theory, which has now shifted to a regulation theory, takes Bowlby’s original work on attachment and looks at how early experiences, such as prenatal stress, optimal/suboptimal stress, and the mother’s ability to regulate the child’s needs, help the child form an internalized working model for attachment style due to the brain being an “experience-dependent organ” (Cozolino, 2010c; J. Schore & A. Schore, 2012).
Attachment and Loss Volume 1 is part of a trilogy by John Bowlby (1907-1990) on seeking a theoretical formulation to attachment behaviour to explain the nature of the bonds between a child and its mother.
Elderly people physically slow down and have lower energy levels. There are changes in the body systems and organs that can usually result in all types of
In the part of the essay I will describe and evaluate Bowlbys theory of Attachment and the learning theory of Attachment. I will show strengths and weaknesses in both theories. I will use a collection of source literature to back up and correlate this information.
The notion of attachment and the attachment theory are primarily associated to John Bowlby, who’s articulation of attachment diverged significantly from all previous theories concerning the importance of social and emotional bonds formed by a child. The propensity to search for contact with a care giver was not a derived from inclination, but subsisted as a primary and permanent drive (Broderick & Blewitt.2015). Essentially, the attachment theory challenged theories of social learning, along with psychoanalysis. According to social learning theories, attachment is formed with those persons who satisfy social needs, while psychanalysis maintains that the child creates a deep connection
“Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships with humans,” (Becknel, 2012). John Bowlby initially developed the Attachment Theory in 1930, however, this theory was further extended in the 1950s through to the 1980s when Bowlby collaborated with Mary Salter Ainsworth (Bowlby and Ainsworth, 1992). Bowlby theorized that in order for a child’s social and emotional behavior to develop normally, a child must develop at least one relationship with a primary caregiver. This attachment must occur within the first three years of the infant’s life and be with a caregiver that is consistently
Lifespan development is a term used to specify a branch of psychology that looks into the changes that occur in human behavior from conception, through birth, youth, adulthood to our death. There are numerous studies looking into pre-natal development and studies of the environment on the fetus (Berk, 2012) and these are a significant part of lifespan development. It is a scientific approach aiming to find understanding of human cognitive, physical, social development. Our growth and development is sensitive to all aspects of our culture, ethnicity and socio-economic background. Within developmental psychology, there are four main issues: the nature versus nurture debate, continuous versus discontinuous development, the significance of critical periods and whether to focus on specific life periods or our entire lifespan (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2013) It is common for researchers to look into these issues. They are problematic and lead to a constant debate between psychologists with inconsistent views. These conflicts exist because a large amount of research done in psychology, especially in developmental psychology, shows contradictory results. Studies of adult development did not emerge until the 1960s and were preceded by child development only by a couple of decades. The research
In Bowlby’s formulation of attachment theory, he presented a very specific set of propositions regarding the way in which early experiences contribute to an understanding of both normal and psychopathological development (Sroufe, Carlson, Levy & Egeland, 1999; Blatt & Levy, 2003). At the core of his theory is the conceptualisation of attachment as a pattern of organised behaviour within a relationship, rather than a trait that infants have in differing quantities (Egeland & Carlson, 2004; Sroufe, Carlson, Levy & Egeland, 1999). Early experiences of the way in which behaviour is organised in the parent-child or primary caregiver-child relationship are significant and have long-lasting effects that are persistent across the lifespan and are among
Attachment theory, a term first coined by psychologist John Bowlby, is a concept concerned with the importance of bonds between child and caregiver. It explains that the type of bond between a child and parent/caregiver is critical to personal development as it affects the child’s future relationships (“Attachment Theory,” n.d.). There are four main types of bonds or attachment styles: secure, preoccupied, dismissive, and fearful. A secure attachment is classified by the child having a secure bond
John Bowlby (1907 – 1990) was a British psychologist most known for his work developing Attachment Theory. Bowlby initially graduated in 1928 at age 21 from Trinity College at Cambridge going on to gain various postgraduate degrees. Bowlby spent most of his early career working with children at various institutes such as the London Child Guidance Clinic where he worked as a psychiatrist. It was not until 1946 that the beginnings of his theory were laid down when he joined the Tavistock Insititue, researching the effects on young children when separated from primary caregivers (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2016). Bowlby’s work was gradual with his theory slowly developed with three main papers published in 1958, 1960 and 1963 that outlined his Attachment Theory (Holmes, 1993).
London psychiatrist John Bowlby’s (1946) original formulation of attachment theory was influenced and inspired by both psychoanalytic and ethological theory (Freud, 1905, Lorenz 1935, Harlow 1958). Bowlby investigated the area of behaviour called attachment, spending many years developing the more comprehensive ‘Theory of Attachments’ published in a full version in 1969. Bowlby theorized that the bonding relationship between an infant and his primary caregiver provides a framework for attachments later-on in life and he called this process the development of an internal working model (IWM). Attachment theory generated an enormous influence on general understanding of emotional development. This essay will outline the key points of Bowlby’s theory and then evaluate few examples of how, for almost half a century, other psychologists have been influenced by his work, generating creative and impactful researches, developing his theory as well as criticizing its validity ending to modify certain