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John Bowlby's Path to Developing the Attachment Theory Essay

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What makes a human feel lost when away from their caretaker when they’re child? There are many different theories on this subject, but a well-known theory is the Attachment Theory written by John Bowlby in the mid-twentieth century. John Bowlby born on February 26, 1907, was a twentieth century psychologist who contributed too many modern day psychoanalytic theories. At a young age he hardly saw his mother due to the fact that she believed, like many other mothers at that time, affection and attention would lead to spoiling of the child. So he developed a deep attachment to his nanny since he never saw his mom. He suffered a loss when she left when he was four. Born in London, he grew raised in an upper-class family who sent him off to…show more content…
He also developed an evolutionary theory called the theory of attachment. His main point of this was that children come are born biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because it will help them survive. Meaning that attachment behaviors are instinctive. He was very influenced by ethological theories. He also proposed that the fear of strangers represents an important survival mechanism, built by nature. Shown how babies display certain behaviors which help to ensure that they are close in proximity and contact to their mothers (ex: crying, smiling, and crawling). From these thoughts Bowlby hypothesized that both infants and mothers have evolved a biological need to stay in contact with each other. Another main point of his career is that there can be long term consequences of maternal deprivation. Some of the consequences in delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased aggression, depression, and affectionless psychopathy. Affectionless psychopathy is the inability to show concern for others. In 1944 he did a study in maternal deprivation to see if it could lead to juvenile delinquency, emotional difficulties, and antisocial behavior. His studies showed that more than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers during their first five years. He then concluded that
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