Qualitative Textual Analysis Essay

The attachment style that an individual exhibits as an infant can affect their adult romantic relationships. An attachment pattern is established in early childhood attachments and continues to function as a working model for relationships in adulthood. This model of attachment influences how each of us reacts to our needs and how we go about getting them met. The ability to recognize one 's attachment can help someone to understand their strengths and vulnerabilities in a relationship.

This essay is looking at the similarities of two researchers into attachment. The aim is to present their work so as to compare and contrast the different approaches and techniques used by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth. Even though they both had their different techniques in carrying out their experiments, the conclusion of their findings was very similar and this essay will be showing these findings by contrast. Both psychologists wanted to find out the underlying mechanics of attachment of mothers and their young.

Phenomenological interview limitations may appear due to the researcher’s lack of experience in conducting interviews (Downey, 2015); which may interfere with the researcher’s focus and intentionality (Ashworth, 2017). Limitations may occur with the relationship between the researcher and the interviewee, including power struggles which might affect trust and honest participant reflections (Boucher, 2017). Further, time limitations could impede upon a participants deliberation process during the interview process (Downey, 2015). If a researcher is to understand the essence of a phenomenon; a suspension of judgment is required during participant interviews (Ashworth, 2017). Additionally, the researcher will need to be extremely attentive to experience the study through the participants’ eyes (Kelley, 2016). Individuals may choose not to answer every question, which is acceptable; yet, missing data can also become a limitation to the study. However, if enough participants do not answer the same question, the question might need to be reframed or removed; additionally, secondary data, such as technical reports, white papers or additional publications might be necessary to validate the research question (Johnston, 2014).

The method I chose for this analysis is in-depth interview. This ethnographic method will be best because it allows me to understand an

Attachment is the psychological and emotional connection experienced between living things, and acts as a medium that “connects one person to another person across time and space”(Mcleod, 2009). Attachment is not only limited to existing in human beings but has been seen in grown mammals and their young offspring. Although it may seem that attachment can be mutually shared, Mcleod (2009) found that “attachment does not have to be reciprocal”. There has been numerous research and studies done on the topic of attachment, but most of the credit behind attachment studies goes to John Bowlby. John Bowlby expanded on the research of Freud’s theories about love and was the psychoanalyst who coined the term ‘attachment. He believed that attachment styles in early childhood affect adults and their future relationships. His theory strongly suggested that children come into this world with an innate desire to form an attachment with others, in order to survive. Mcleod (2009) found that “attachment can be understood within an evolutionary context in that the caregiver provides safety and security for the infant”.

Attachment theory refers to the strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people especially between the infant and primary caregiver. The caregiver could be the mother, grand parents, father, aunty, uncle and so on. . According to Maccoby (1980) attachment has four key characteristics including proximity; where the infant desires to stay close to the person they are attached to, separation anxiety; where if the infant is separated from the caregiver may lead to distress; pleasure; where the infant and caregiver feel pleasure when reunited and finally frequent contact where the infant is aware of the caregiver and seeks to be in contact with them always. This essay will cover an analysis of attachment theory in terms of nativist and empiricist debates, an evaluation of Bowlby's research theory of attachment in terms of childcare and later development and evaluation of studies into maternal privation and deprivation.

‘Attachment’ is a lasting secure and positive feeling that bonds one person to another, one of the strongest forms of attachment is thought to develop between a mother and child. Many psychologist, sociologist, physicians and psychoanalysts have sought to explore the fundamental nature of attachment and how it had evolved. Within this essay I shall examine

Attachment style is a profound effect not only on our emotional development, but also upon the health of our relationships. A child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong consequences. It is important to be aware of attachment during infancy and early childhood in order to raise secure, independent and empathetic children. A secure, trusting attachment to parents during childhood forms the basis for secure relationships and independence as adults. It affects everything from our partner selection to how well our relationships progress to, sadly, how they end. That is why recognizing our attachment pattern can help us understand our strengths and vulnerabilities in a relationship. An attachment pattern is

How separation from attachment figures and/or a lack of attachment relationships impact on later relationship development.

New research does show that even though the primary attachments develops during infancy as a person grow the types of attachments could be altered with new types of attachments due to positive or negative life events. Secure attachment used to be the most common type of attachment among early people but with the new generation studies shows a decline in it and a small growth in avoidant and resistant attachment

This essay sets out to discuss important developments of the attachment theory since the time of John Bolwby. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, to help them survive. He believed that attachment behaviors are instinctive and are activated by any conditions that seem to threaten the achievement of proximity, so separation, insecurity and fear (McLeod, 2007). The first development to be discussed comes from Mary Ainsworth, a former student of Bolwby’s. In the 1970’s Ainsworth developed a procedure, The Strange Situation, to assess the quality of a child’s attachment to their caregiver. Secondly, The Adult Attachment Interview developed shortly after the strange situation by a former student of Ainsworth’s, Mary Main. This looked at the attachment of the adult and the correlation between the adult’s attachment and their child’s. Finally, Edward Tronick’s Still Face Experiment first presented in 1975. This helped look at individual differences in attachment style through a procedure of a baby interacting with the caregiver and then the baby’s reaction to a non-responsive, emotionless caregiver, then most importantly the reaction of the baby when there is reparation from the mother.

The method chosen for this portfolio is a semi-structured interview, providing a set of questions that was pre-prepared, also providing a flexibility to ask more questions if required with an undergraduate from Royal Holloway, University of London. This qualitative portfolio will draw upon media articles, by employing the use of content analysis which aims to replicate the analysis of texts. Using a qualitative and quantitative dimension, by examining use of languages such as metaphors, connotations, loaded words or terms, and emotive or sensationalist language, and, their intended effects.

Attachment theory is a concept that explores the importance of attachment in respect to direct development. “It is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space” (Bowlby, 1969; McLeod, 2009). It is the relationship that develops within the first year of the infant’s life between them and their caregiver. The theory also relates to the quality of the attachment that is shown in the behavior of the infant (Rieser-Danner, 2016). Attachment theory shows that infants need a close nurturing relationship with their caregiver in order to have a healthy relationship. Lack of response from the caregiver

In accordance with the research topic, qualitative research method is selected to fulfil the deployment of semi-structured interviews with the participants who would have been identified from the study (Bryman & Bell, 2003). The author felt that,

Interviews are an excellent means of getting information from a respondent while ensuring a level of confidence in the responses received. There is also opportunity to obtain additional information through discussions which would potentially help identify avenues for further consideration in the research or details that could provide value and credibility to a research or even potentially result or help in further studies. One of the potential weaknesses of interviews include the possibility of diverging too far from the research topic. Co-location is a blocker for face to face interview, but this can be mitigated by use of technology like video conferencing. There is also a huge dependency on the time a respondent can provide the researcher and this would need additional effort to arrange a location and time that is convenient for both the researcher and respondent. Interviews also have a fair share of problems such as the style of the interview (structured, semi-structured, unstructured),