Bowlby Attachment Theory Essay

Perhaps the most influential explanation of attachment was presented by John Bowlby who began developing his ideas in the 1940s. Bowlby was commissioned by the World Health Organisation to investigate whether young children were likely to be harmed if they are separated from their mothers in the early years. (Hayes, 1996). Bowlby (1951) reported that infants possesses an innate need to attach to one main attachment figure (this was usually the mother). According to Hayes (1996), this is a special relationship which is qualitatively different from the relationship they form with any other kind of person. He described this as the process of monotropy; however, Bowlby did not deny that babies formed lots of attachments. (Bailey et al. 2008).

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.

Bowlby explored a wide range of fields in order to formulate the attachment theory which includes psychoanalysis, control system theory, evolutionary biology, ethology and cognitive psychology. Bowlby became concerned about the disturbance of children in understaffed orphanages and nurseries as they were not provided with much emotional interaction, so the children showed an inability to form close and long lasting relationships with others which seemed to Bowlby that they were unable to love because they had missed their opportunity to form solid attachment to a mother figure in early life. In 1948, World Health Organization commissioned Bowlby to conduct the research evidence on such institutional deprivation. In 1951, Bowlby put forward his hypothesis in Maternal Care and Mental Health that

Bowlby believed that babes had have built in social releasers that help form attachment, for example, crying and smiling. These would stimulate responses in caregivers. Bowlby also suggested that the infant would form only one primary attachment, and that this attachment would act as a secure base for exploring the world. This theory was also backed up by Mary Ainsworth ‘The Strange Situation’, Eysenck (2000). Another conclusion in Bowlbys attachment theory was that there was a sensitive period; a period were imprinting was important. This would affect attachment and have lifelong consequences. He

Temperament is defined as the individual behavioral style of the child, the way in which he characteristically reacts to environmental stimuli. Temperament is distinct from the child’s innate abilities and motivation. Their are nine temperament traits; activity being the first which is based on the level of motor component in a child’s functioning, rated as regular,variable, or irregular. I would rate myself as moderate. I prefer to be independent; I rather do a task myself so that I don't have to watch someone else do it. I also don't like to be confined I prefer to explore the areas and things that surround me. Rhythmicity being the second temperament trait is all about the regularity or predictability in the timing of recurrent activities, rated as regular,variable, or irregular. Regular best describes me because I stick to a routine everyday and if it is changed I have a very hard time dealing with it. I eat the same thing everyday and at the same time everyday. I wake up every morning at the same time, but I fall asleep at different times depending on what I did that day. And lastly I have a difficult time adjusting to different time zones whenever I go away on vacation. The Approach/Withdrawal is the third temperament it is about the nature of a child's response to a new stimulus, rated as approach, variable, or withdrawal. Withdrawing child best fits me; it takes me awhile to warm up to new things, I'm cautious with new people, things and places. I prefer to surround

According to Simply Psychology, Bowlby’s attachment theory says an individual can have an attachment with someone that is not shared. Attachment is characterized by behaviors in children such as seeking proximity with their attachment figure when upset. Bowlby’s experiments led him to see the importance of a child and mother relationship. (Saul McLeod, 2009) With more research later came four phases of attachment. Phase one is from birth to two months, this stage is where babies seek comfort, and can attach to anyone. Phase two is from two months to seven months. Babies start to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar faces. Also, they can tell between primary and secondary caregivers. Phase three is seven to 24 months old. This phase is when babies have the knowledge of who their caregiver is, which causes separation anxiety when the caregiver has to leave. Phase four is from 24 months and after, which is when the child can reciprocate the relationship. (Maianu, 2015)

John Bowlby had worked with residential school children as a volunteer early on in his career and had determined that the children who suffered the most from anger outbursts, aggressivity, and whom her termed “affectionless” were also the children who had suffered the most maternal deprivation (). Bowlby advanced that the loss of the mother figure was extremely distressing and damaging and could influence adults' behavior years later. Hence, where psychoanalysis had been concerned “solely with the imaginings of the childish mind, the fantasied pleasures and the dreaded retributions” (Fonagy), Bowlby showed that humans do not develop in a void or as “individual monads” but as members of interacting systems. Bowlby developed his theory on attachment for several decades, and at a time where any dealings with childhood trauma were still rigorously influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis through the likes of psychoanalysts such Anna Freud or Melanie Klein. Even Winnicott was “revulsed” upon reading Bowlby's papers (siegel). It certainly was a bitter pill to swallow for psychoanalysts who had been repeating since Freud that the newborn was a little tyrant fighting for oral gratification at the mother's breast and merely clinging on to fulfil sexual instinctual needs. Bowlby's work was thus eschewed for a considerable time, despite his involvement with the World Health Organisation and the considerable empirical weight that was added to his findings by Mary Ainsworth's studies in

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.

In this assignment I aim to show some of the common approaches in psychology, which aim to answer the above question.

Worries the significance of "Attachment" as to self-improvement. In particular, it makes the claim that the capacity for a person to shape an enthusiastic and physical "connection" to someone else gives a feeling of solidness and security important to go out on a limb, fan out, and develop and create as a personality. Actually, Attachment theory is an expansive thought with numerous expressions, and the best comprehension of it can be had by taking a look at a few of those expressions turn. Strong attachment between mother and child is shown through physical contact and while holding the child, they face each other. Adolescents Form Attachments with Peers as a child reaches adolescence, they tend to depart away from the attachment relationships with any parental type figure. Attachment bonds between parents and adolescents are "Treated by many adolescents more like ties that restrain than like ties that anchor and secure, and a key task of adolescence is to develop autonomy so as no longer to need to rely on parents ' support when making one 's way through the world". A way of seeking independence from the parents is to rely more on peers as attachment figures. Eventually, adolescents will form long-term relationships with their peers that may be of the romantic kind, which may become full attachment relationships. These relationships are formed not only because of the need for attachment, but also

The attachment theory of Bowlby (1980) helps to explain human bonding, conceptualize attachment, and proximity seeking. According to Lee and Hankin (2009) comfort received from caregiver reassure a child that at the time of distress caregiver will be with them. Furthermore, Lee and Hankin (2009) explains that the attachment within infant-caregiver is regarded as a basis for future relation dynamics of a child. Child, who is having anxious attachment are having difficulty to take caregiver as a secure person and they are characterized as anxious person (Lee & Hankin, 2009). Hamilton (2000) explained about a 12-year longitudinal study that found infant attachment style helps to predict attachment style in adolescence. In addition, a meta-analysis

Bowlby’s attachment theory has four main points. The first point is that a child has a need to attach to one main figure. This figure is usually the mother and is more important than another attachment. The relationship between the two is different and unlike any other. Failure to have this relationship could lead to serious consequences including affectionless psychopathy. The second point is that the child should receive continuous care from this attachment for the first two years of their life. If the relationship is altered in anyway the child could suffer from serious issues such as long term cognitive, social, and emotional difficulties. The third point talks about long term effect of maternal deprivation such as delinquency, reduced

Attachment theory has had some very powerful theorists that have come up with these ideologies. In 1969, John Bowlby was the first theorist to develop the attachment theory. It is a theory developed to explain the emotional ties that children had with their parents or caregivers. It was believed that a child’s attachment style with a caregiver was developed throughout childhood and influenced how an individual interacts with society. It also gave an indication on what their parenting styles might be like, although this was not always a concrete indication. Bowlby’s theory provided the basis on which Mary Ainsworth also worked on and developed. In the 1970’s Ainsworth developed and conducted the “strange situation” experiment, which proved

Steven Mitchell Attachment Theory and the Psychoanalytic Tradition: Reflections on Human Relationality is an interesting article in that it highlights the importance of personal relationships and human interaction and explores the difference between Bowlby’s attachment theory and psychoanalysis. Both psychoanalysis and attachment theory has respective approaches regarding how one comes to understand human nature and the individual. His use of clinical vignette helps to solidify the idea of the transactional understanding of the patient therapist relationship. Mitchell approach draws from other major psychoanalytic theorists such as Fairbairn, Loewald, Sullivan, Winicott, and Bowlb.

John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure,