Attachment Theory 4

However, Rutter’s Romanian orphan study suggests that mothers are not special in the way Bolby believed. Infants displayed a range of attachment behaviour towards attachment figures other than their mothers and there isn’t any particular attachment behaviour that was exclusive to their mom. Schaffer and Emerson as well, found multiple attachments are the norm, in fact 39% of children had their main attachment to someone else than the main carer. These two findings undermine Bowlby’s theory.

When a person becomes a parent, their role in life undoubtedly changes. The person must become a teacher, a guide, and a helping hand in the life of the child. Research has shown that there is a distinct connection between how a child is raised and their overall developmental outcome. John Bowlby’s attachment theory emphasizes the importance of the regular and sustained contact between the parent-infant or parent-child relationship (Travis & Waul 2003). Yet, what happens when the only physical contact a child can share with their parent is a hand pressed on the shield of glass that separates the two? What happens when the last memory of their mother or father was from the corner of their own living room as they watched their parent

Bowlby’s hypothesis did not suggest that the relationship had to be with the mother. He believed s child needed to form a relationship with a primary caregiver however did not necessarily need to be the mother. The key aim for his hypothesis was to identify the importance of emotional care in healthy development. Privation is when an attachment had never been formed. The lack of emotional care can possibly result in no attachment being formed.

There is lots of evidence to support this theory of maternal deprivation. However, it has been said that the quality of the relationship is more important and separation is not classed to be the same as deprivation (Wooton 1959). Although, regardless of whether it was due to separation or deprivation, it could be said that Rollins experienced both.

He coined the term “maternal deprivation” and defined it as a child not having this vital mother-hild relationship and he believed that without this interaction there could be severe damage to the child’s personality, and their emotional and social development (p. 148) . Many children, especially in orphanages with a high volume of children, were maternally deprived in the early establishment of

Bowlby’s attachment theory, as well as Erikson’s psychosocial theory, indicates that a child’s overall development is dependent on the care that they receive from their caregiver, more specifically their mother. Meeting the needs of the child and providing a

1.) Bowlby's attachment theory stresses the importance of a secure attachment between an infant and his or her mother. If the caregiver, most likely the mother, makes the infant feel like he or she is well-taken care of, then the child learns that they can trust that the mother will always be around and will be there when or if the child ever needs someone to depend on. This is achieved in four distinct ways (Myers, 2009). The infant needs to have a secure base with the child. The child needs to know that if he or she becomes afraid, they will always have someone to go back to. This secure base also needs to be a safe haven where the child can be comforted upon feeling afraid. The child will also always try to stay near the caregiver in order to feel this safe haven, and any separation will cause distress because of being away from their secure base and safe haven. All of these factors come into play in the article "Ghosts in the nursery: A psychoanalytic approach to the problems of impaired infant-mother relationships" (Fraiberg et al 1975). By lacking these specific features, the infant going into the program were deprived of the necessary mechanisms that Bowlby asserted were essential to forming a well-rounded secure person.

Also realising in her study the importance of a “safe base” to infants, as in the observation research carried out on the Uganda families “if the mothers were unresponsive and emotionally detached, their infants seem to cry a lot more and often seemed clingy or insecure”(Discovering psychology, p.216,2010).

Bowlby believed that an attachment was formed between a child and their mother to increase the baby’s chances of survival, the chance of the mother passing on her genes to further generations is also increased due to this attachment because then the child will be able to grow up and have children of their own. Bowlby said that children are born with pre-programmes behaviours to gain our attention; this includes actions such as smiling and crying. Adults have the instinct to respond to these behaviours and so there is a mutual relationship, and the baby is able to be looked after and survive as when they cry or smile, someone pleases their needs. Bowlby believes that the baby forms a monotropic relationship with the main caregiver, this is usually the mother. The monotropic bond has to be formed within the first two years of the child being alive, others serious and irreparable damage will be done to the baby, this also includes if the bond is broken for a long period of time. If the bond is broken for a long period of time then they will have problems in adulthood, especially if the bond breaking has happened within the7ir first three years of life as they have not begun their lives in a stable environment with stable relationships and attachments. To Bowlby, he believes that the job of a mother figure for the first three years is to focus on the child and care for them. He believes that if a mother is working full time then this could have similar consequences for the child

Bowlby (1951) considered that it was essential that the child and mother to form a bond, as he argued that when the child – mother were seperated between, what he believed to be most essential period which is between 6 months and 5 years, it could have drastic consequences and influence the future development of the child. This consequence that he talked about included depression, aggresisivity, delinquency to name a few consequences.

John Bowlby and Maternal Deprivation Bowlby believed that maternal behaviour was instinctive in humans as it appears to be in animals. Mothers and their babies form an instinctive attachment to each other using genetically inherited skills such as smiling, grasping, crying and so on. If a separation occurs between mother and infant within the first few years of the child’s life, Bowlby believed that the bond would be irreversibly broken, leading to severe emotional consequences for the infant in later life. He referred to this as maternal deprivation. Bowlby claimed that maternal deprivation had the following consequences: 1.

B1/A2/A*1-John Bowlby’s attachment theory is a positive aspect to this transition as the child are likely to gain secure attachments with their key worker which enables them to work closely with each other, this then allows the child to be more comfortable with any support they receive throughout the process, however the child may become too attached to their key worker and may face issues later when the times comes for them to separate therefore it is important for children to spend time with other members of staff. Children can be attached to other practitioners other than their key worker so it is important for both to communicate to ensure that the key worker knows everything about the child and keep on track with any paperwork they have to complete about the child and keep track of the child’s progress and development. I think that Bowlby attachment theory is important within this transition as the child going into care needs a secure attachment to someone as the attachment to their parents will be disrupted and the child needs someone for support especially a child of this age. The child can make an attachment to their foster carer however this also may be difficult if the child is in temporary foster care and are removed from care, this may cause the child distress as all the attachments they have made are being disrupted. There are many criticism of Bowlby’s theory, one of these are that Bowlby believed that ‘Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only

The majority of developmental theories say that children must develop a secure primary attachment in order to develop in a healthy manner. A secure and strong attachment is clearly essential for healthy future relationships. John Bowlby’s studies in childhood development led him to the conclusion that a strong attachment to a caregiver provides a necessary sense of security and foundation. Without such a relationship in place, Bowlby found that a great deal of developmental energy is expended in the search for stability and security. In general, those without such attachments are fearful and are less willing to seek out and learn from new

“The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development. For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn’t develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child’s development” (Strathearn, 2008)

The 3 year-old baby seemed very interesting in playing and being nurtured by his grandmother than the need of food to satisfy his hunger. At first, the baby began following the mother no matter where she went; however, once the grandmother walked away and nowhere to be found, the baby began searching for food for the time being. The 3 year-old realizes that his grandmother still exist even when he could not find her. According to Bowlby, he observed “infants would go to extraordinary lengths to prevent separation from their parents or to reestablish proximity to a missing parent.” (Franley, 2014) In comparison to Bowlby’s observation, this 3 year-old observed did not cry or called for his grandmother when separating her. The 3 year-old did