An Important Aspect Of Intimate Relationships And The Human Condition? Attachment And Attachment Theory

There are two different types of avoidance attachments: fearful and dismissive. People with either of these avoidance attachment styles often say that they are uncomfortable being close to others; and they find it hard to trust and depend on others. They get nervous when anyone gets too close to them, or when romantic partners want to be more intimate with them. People with a fearful style of avoidant attachment often have mixed

Infants with attachment disorder can be described as being either securely attached or insecurely attached. Securely attached children rarely reach the anxiety overload threshold. There are three types of insecure attachment: resistant, avoidant and

Each attachment style is divided along two dimensions – the fear of abandonment and the fear of closeness. Bartholomew and Horowitz define fear of abandonment as the model of self which describes the belief of an individual to be either “worthy of love and support or not” (1991). They also define fear of closeness as the model of other which describes an individual’s

John Bowlby, the backbone of attachment theories will be discussed throughout this essay to explain and evaluate the key theories of attachment. Health and well-being which is made up of four factors ‘physical, intellectual, emotional and social ' (Jones, 2016), will also be discussed within the essay. The definition of attachment is ‘an act of attaching or the state of being attached. ' (Dictionary, 1400) This will be showed in the assignment, using theorists to analyse the meaning. Sharing the strengths and weaknesses in some theorists will help conclude this assignment.

An infant's anxiety and uncertainty are evident, as when the infant becomes very upset at separation from the caregiver and both

What is attachment theory and why is it an important aspect of intimate relationships and love? The attachment theory of love maintains that the degree and quality of attachments one experiences in early life influence one’s later relationships (Strong & Cohen, 2014). John Bowlby proposed that, based on infants interactions with caregivers, infants construct expectations about relationships in the form of internal working models- cognitive representations of themselves and other people that guide their processing of social information and behavior in relationships (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). This research was further elaborated on by Mary Ainsworth and colleagues, who believed there were three styles of infant attachment: secure, anxious or ambivalent, and avoidant.

Mary Ainsworth is known for her ‘Strange Situation’ (Custance 2010) studies with children. Her theory was that the quality of an infant’s attachment depends largely on the kind of attention the infant has received. She observed the attachment styles of children, mostly aged between 12 and 24 months, by placing them in an environment and recording their reactions to their mothers (or primary caregivers) leaving the room and then returning. Based on these observations Ainsworth concluded that there are different types of attachment. Three types of attachment are: ‘anxious-avoidant’, where the child shows little upset with the stranger, but will avoid contact with the parent on their return. The ‘securely attached’ child is one that will show moderate levels of proximity seeking towards the parents and is upset by their departure but deals with the parents return positively, often returning to play. The third type is the ‘anxious-resistant’ child; greatly upset by the parent’s departure and on reunion seems angry and will not be comforted or picked up (Custance 2010).

The Attachment theory is a psychological, ethological and evolutionary theory that gives a descriptive and explanatory framework of understanding interpersonal relationship between human beings. Presented by John Bowlby, the important tenet of this theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to progress generally.

The third attachment is avoidant; which occurs when someone has a hard time to connecting with others. People with this kind of attachment fear being left by their partner, thus, resulting in pushing their partner or the caregiver away from the infant. This attachment creates a separation between the caregiver and infant. According to the book Human Sexuality, this particular act in infants and adults signifies them in an attempt to defend themselves from rejection. A perfect example of this is my very close family friend Alicia (given name). After separating from her longest relationship, she was having a hard time accepting the fact that he had left her. This influenced her to not trusting anyone and become anti-social for a longest period

The caregiver and infant’s relationship form four possible attachment styles: secure, avoidant, ambivalent/anxious, and disorganized (McLeod, 2009). Secure attachment occurs when the caregiver meets the child’s needs. The child feels safe and secure. In contrast, avoidant attachment occurs when the caregiver is emotionally avoidant, insensitive, and unaware of the child’s needs. In this case, the child learns to care for himself/herself.

The four attachment categories that infants are put into are: secure, insecure/resistant (or ambivalent), insecure/avoidant, and disorganized/disoriented.

An infant with a secure attachment style has a natural bond with their parent, where they are able to trust them, at the same time leaving their side to discover and explore their surroundings. In an insecure/resistant attachment the relationship the child has with their mother or caregiver is very clingy, thus making them very upset once the caregiver is away. When the mother or caregiver is back they are not easily comforted and resist their effort in comforting them. In an insecure/avoidant attachment the infant is, “indifferent and seems to avoid the mother, they are as easily comforted by a stranger, as by their parent” (Siegler 2011, p.429). Lastly, the disorganized/disoriented attachment is another insecure attachment style in which the infant has no way of coping with stress making their behavior confusing or contradictory. Through these brief descriptions of the attachment theory, many researchers have defined the turning point in which each attachment definition can have an influence on one’s self esteem, well-being and their marital relationship.

The fourth (Simpson, Collins, Tran & Haydon, 2007) is a longitudinal study that studied participant’s experiences during their periods of critical attachment processes from four different stages; infancy, elementary, adolescence and early adulthood (20-23 years old.) From these attachment experiences, they become characteristics of personality and social development. As with all the other studies, the results seem to go with the same manner; infants who are secure at the beginning of their lives end up being socially apt in elementary school, and have a secure relationship with friends in adolescence. Whereas infants who are insecure, stay with the trend as they grow up. (Simpson et al., 2007) These results stay with the core idea of the attachment theory (Bowlby, 1979.) This seems to be the only study that shows early

With more than seven billion of us on the planet, humans are definitely social creatures; our inexorable spread across every corner of the globe could never have been possible without massive inter-species collaboration. Attachment theory seeks to describe and understand human interaction from a scientific standpoint; it states that people develop emotional bonds with significant others and are motivated to maintain those bonds over time. Individuals vary along two dimensions of attachment insecurity: anxiety and avoidance. Secure individuals, who score low on both dimensions, typically display the healthiest relationship processes and have the most positive relationship outcomes. Anxious or avoidant individuals, on the other hand, tend to have unhealthy relationships.

Lastly, avoidant attached infants are untroubled when the caregiver leaves and returns. The infant wants to keep closeness to the caregiver but this attachment style lets the infant maintain closeness to the caregiver even in the face of rejection. In order to control their feelings of distress and to prevent more rejection, the infant may just give up on seeking closeness to the caregiver (Walsh, 2015).