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Questions On Attachment Theory And Attachment Parenting

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Introduction
People can and do get the [attachment] theory confused with attachment parenting. The result of this may be that some parents, thinking that attachment parenting is too consuming and also because western society has a need for independence and separation, may then look for alternative methods that do not involve any form of attachment “methods”. The purpose of researching these theories is to gather information about attachment theory for those involved to make informed decisions that do not involve a specific parenting philosophy that may not suit their family’s needs.
Attachment is the method through which people acquire specific positive and close emotional bonds with others. In mature relationships, people may be equal …show more content…

Freud believed that infants develop maternal relationships because mothers feed them and satisfy their hunger. However, animal studies have provided evidence that feeding does not necessarily explain the attachment. In fact, experiments have found that infant rhesus monkeys raised in an isolated environment preferred the contact with a comfortable cloth-covered surrogate mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire surrogate mother, demonstrating that the basis for attachment relationships does not reside solely in feeding. These experiments also found that the ones raised by simulated mothers were scared when placed alone in foreign situations.
Another expert, Erik Erikson, proposed an eight-stage psychosocial development process. In his theory, each stage involves a task that must be completed if infants are to successfully move to the next stage. The initial stage of “Trust versus mistrust” in psychosocial development arises in the first year of life. During this stage infants need to develop a sense of trust in themselves and in the world around them. The infant depends on the parents, with an emphasis on the mother, for nourishment. Their relative interpretation of world and society stems from the parent-child interaction. If the parents expose the child to consistency, and steady affection, the child 's perception will be that of trust. However, if parents fail to provide a safe environment that meets

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