John Bowlby's Attachment Theory Essay

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) also formulated a theory of attachment based on their longitudinal study of 60 babies in Glasgow looking at the gradual development of attachments; they visited them monthly for the first year of their lives and returned again at 18 months. (Bailey et al. 2008). Similar to Bowlby’s research, Schaffer and Emerson also formulated four key stages of attachment and produced

From an evolutionary perspective, John Bowlby made the connection that children form an attachment to their parents in the best interest of survival. Therefore, in a well functioning parent-infant relationship, infants learn to seek their parents in frightening situations and use them as a secure base (Hesse, 2014). However, Mary Ainsworth exemplifies that this is not the case for all infants. In the Strange Situation Study, Mary Ainsworth discovered three fundamental attachment styles: secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment. A fourth attachment style was later discovered by Main and Solomon and classified as disorganized attachment. These are known as the four fundamental unidirectional types of attachment between an infant and their caregiver. These relationship patterns are often established between infant and primary caregiver during their early stages of life. In the following, I will exemplify how these attachment styles differ when the infant experiences significant disruptions in their family relationships because of changes in caregivers and separation from imprisoned parents?

During the first year of a baby’s life, these nascent relationships serve to the baby as a template of how relationships work. Thus, the quality of the relationships in the baby’s life offers the baby a framework for future relationships, according to the attachment theory. Whether a child’s relationship with their parent or parents was healthy or not, influences how the child searches for and acts in relationships in the future. The attachments and connections made in early stages of our life affect how we build attachments to people in the future. The four classic categories of attachment styles include secure, insecure anxious, insecure avoidant, and insecure disorganized, and were derived from a vast number of infant and toddler observations in a test known as the “strange situation” (Murphy, 2017).

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.

Everyone has an attachment style from which they developed in the first two years of their life. This attachment style tends to stay consistent with each person throughout their lifetime and affects their social-emotional development, and thus relationships with other people. Attachment styles greatly affect the choice one makes in life partners, and how they parent their own children. It is important for everyone to gain insight on their own attachment style if they are to know their emotional limits and how to strengthen their flaws in order to develop a better-self and stronger relationships with other people (Norcross, 2011). It is even more so important for caregivers to be aware of their attachment style and how sensitively available they are to the children in their lives. How the primary caregiver responds to the child’s needs, determines the attachment style the child will acquire. To develop a secure attachment the child needs to establish confidence in a reliable caregiver. In this paper I will be talking about the behaviors and interactions that I observed while watching the film “Babies”, and what attachment styles may be formed as a result of those interactions.

The importance of a healthy attachment in early childhood development can lead to a better adult development and skills for daily life. A secure and healthy attachment to the caregiver in infancy to adolescence showcases the importance of building strong relationships and coping skills during periods of stress and anxiety. The research that has been found, goes into detail about the different types of attachments that infants and children can develop as well as what negative and positive aspects come along with the attachments.

John Bowlby’s work in attachment has been one of the foundational works when determining the level of attachments and bonds that a child and parent may experience (Webb, 2011). According to Bowlby, “attachment” is referring to a lasting, mutual bond of affection that is dependent on an individual or more than one person (Webb, 2011). Establishing a secure attachment during infancy and early childhood is an important task of a parent or a caregiver. Not all parents or caregivers can provide their child or children with a secure attachment at this important in life due to various reasons. Since parents are the main providers in their child’s development of attachment, their lives and history have a great influence on their children’s lives.

In 1958, the Attachment theory came into existence. It was developed by John Bowlby on the notion that the quality of the parent -child relationship was essential for development and mental health (Howe, 2011, pg, 7). This thinking was in the context of distress shown by children when separated from their parents or when in unfamiliar surroundings. While having credit for the emergence of the attachment theory, Bowlby subsequently carried out a lot of research work with Mary Ainsworth concluding that children view their attachment figures as both a ?safe haven? to return to for comfort and protection and also a ?secure base? from which to explore their environment. The birth of children gives rise to the need to feel loved and wanted by caregivers, (Maclean and Harrison,2015 pg, 103), the absence of which might result in a range of behaviors to either

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.

Mary Ainsworth (1979) conducted a study into attachment types which helps supports Bowlby`s ideas and provides a more concrete way in which to describe positive and negative experiences with monotropic relationships. Her findings showed that securely attached infant would have experienced a sensitive and supportive caregiver, whereas an insecure- avoidant infant would have experienced a caregiver who is less affectionate to them, thirdly an insecure – resistant infant would have experienced a caregiver who is inconsistent with their care (Ainsworth, 1979).

The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the

Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment hypothesizes that when children come into the world they are already biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, due to survival skills. He claimed that caregiver attachments has profound implications for child’s security and capacity to form trusting relationship. There are four phases; Preattachment phase (birth - 6 weeks) attachment in making (6 weeks - 6 to 8 months) clear cut attachment (6 to 8 months to 18months to 2 years) and formation of reciprocal relationship ( 18 months to 2 years on.) Ainsworth’s strange situation theory is theory of attachment. She observed the attachment relationships between a caregiver and a child. There are four types of attachment: secure, insecure-ambivalent,

In this section, a summarization of attachment theory will be given; why attachment is important in healthy personality development; its survival component and its transgenerational 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

Attachment theory states that the original parent-child or primary caregiver-child relationship is as important as eating and sleeping and children have an evolutionary bias to behave in ways that enhances proximity to their caregivers (Alexander & Anderson, 1994). Ainsworth and colleagues conducted a series of experiments involving separation and reunion between mothers and infants called the “Strange Situation” experiments (Fonagy, 1998). As a result of these studies, two broad categories of responses defined the areas of secure versus insecure attachment (Fonagy, 1998). Within insecure attachment, anxious and avoidant types were observed (Fonagy,