Bowlby : The Father Of Attachment Theory

John Bowlby developed the theory of attachment he researched the significance of the relationship between a mother and her child. His theory shows that this bond

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.

He drew on several different resources which included Harlow’s rhesus monkeys and Lorenz’s (1935) imprinting. John Bowlby’s evolutionary theory had stemmed from Lorenz’s (1935) study of imprinting. Lorenz showed in his research that young ducklings had an innate tendency to attach for survival purposes. Bowlby saw humans being just like animals also having that instinctive nature to attach for survival purposes this gives infants an adaptive advantage to survive. Bowlby also believed that infants had to form an attachment to their caregiver within a specific time frame, this being from birth to 2.5 years old. They would then go on to form several attachments to others at a later stage. If the infant did not form an attachment within the critical time frame then Bowlby believed they would be damaged for life they would go on to become socially, emotionally, intellectually and even physically damaged. Maternal deprivation hypothesis claimed that if the mother and infants attachment was broken in the primary attachment stage then this would also have a severe effect on the infant’s emotional development Bowlby (1951). Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis was mainly based on studies that were conducted in the 1930’s and they were based on children who were brought up in nurseries and

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.

Bowlby worked for many years as a child psychoanalyst so was clearly very influenced by Freud’s theories and child development. However, he also liked the work of Lorenz on the innate nature of bonds through imprinting and combined these two very different ideas to produce his own evolutionary theory of attachments. Bowlby believed that attachment is innate and adaptive. We are all born with an inherited need to form attachments and this is to help us survive. In line with Darwin’s theory of natural selection, any behaviour that helps you

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.

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

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

Bowlby stated attachment was not shaped solely from the child’s acceptance, but the behaviour of another significant other, usually the mother or caregiver who had a crucial role in the child’s growth. The growth and development of the child is reliant on four stages of process from birth, Bowlby stated these stages were where the child would bind to the mother or vice versa, he proposed one to two months old in which the infant shows attachment to the mother by crying, sucking. The second stage up to six months old the child has the focus on a mother figures and attaches to the one he or she has more contact with. The third stage up to aged two named the secure base, where the child has its focus on the where the main caregiver is when their welfare is under threat. The stage up over the age of two is concerned on the child learning a behaviour and how this affects the relationship with their mothers or attachments, this will be the grounding for subsequent relationships

Bowlby’s theory is an evolutionary theory because, in his view attachment is a behavioural system that has evolved because of its survival value and, ultimately, its reproductive value. According to Bowlby, children have an innate drive to become attached to a caregiver because attachment has long-term benefits. Both attachment and imprinting ensure that a young animal stays close to a caregiver who will feed and protect the young animal. Thus attachment and imprinting are adaptive behaviours. Infants who do not become attached are less likely to survive and reproduce. Attachment ‘genes’ are perpetuated, and infants are born with an innate drive to become attached.

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, made known by John Bowlby, is a theory dissecting the behaviourisms of humans and animals with others and the reasoning behind them. Bowlby created three main types of attachment one may experience with another. The first type of attachment is secure attachment. This attachment entails that the mother and the child have a healthy emotional bond. For this to happen, the mother and or father comfort the baby by means of “bodily centric and verbal communication” (Boyd, 2013).

Bowlby worked with Robertson to observe children that may be distressed when separated from their mothers (McLeod, 2009). It was at this point that that they noticed that the children did not break their anxiety, even when fed by other caregivers (McLeod, 2009). Bowlby and Robertson noted their findings, and that they conflicted with the behavioral theory of attachment which showed there was an underestimated child’s bond with the mother (McLeod, 2009). Behavioral theory states that attachment will happen with the mother due to mother feeding the infant (McLeod, 2009). However, Bowlby theory went into more detail about attachment than just between mother feeding infant. He stated that attachment is a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (McLeod, 2009). Bowlby then presented the

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,