The Attachment Theory in Child Psychology Essay

John Bowlby developed his Attachment Theory to examine and explore the contextual relationships between a child and their caregiver and their behavioral repercussions. He describes it is “a way of conceptualizing the propensity of human beings to make strong affectional bonds to particular others and of explaining the many forms of emotional distress and personality disturbance, including anxiety, anger, depression, and emotional detachment, to which unwilling separation and loss give rise” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 127). An infant’s attachment to their primary caregiver establishes a sense of security, through protection, so the infant is able to explore the world with confidence and without threat and risk. During a child’s

In the earliest stages of development, emotions are diffuse and infants have little control over their behavioral expression, relying instead on the dyadic regulation provided by their caregivers’ responses to behavioral signals. Attachment disorders form in infancy and early childhood as a result of instability in the child-caregiver relationship. Attachment-disordered children typically have experienced abusive or neglectful care, multiple changes between caregivers and environments, or the sudden loss of a parent or parents.

The term ‘attachment’ is used by psychologists who study the child’s early relationships. An attachment is a unique emotional bond normal between a child and an adult. A theorist called John Bowlby (1970-90) had a relation to the attachment theory. In 1950s John identified that when children 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.

The Development of Attachment Psychological research can inform us about the development of attachments to a certain extent. Mary Ainsworth actually covered a definition explaining, how we know when an attachment has developed. This is; 'the infant tries to get close to and maintain that proximity with the caregiver, using a number of strategies to do so. E.g. clinging and signalling behaviours such as smiling, crying and calling.

Psychoanalyst, John Bowlby in the mid 19th hundreds, investigated attachment theory. Over the years, we have enhanced our understanding on how children attach to their primary caregiver earlier in life. Supported by attachment theory, infants have a window for the development of attachment to the primary caregiver, which, usually happens during the first months of life (Hardy, 2007). Given that Alexander’s parents’ left when he was only 3 months and was raised by his grandparents, it is no surprise that when he reunited with his parents, they felt like complete strangers to him, because they were not the ones meeting his needs early in life.

The Attachment theory is a psychological, ethological and evolutionary theory that gives a descriptive and explanatory framework of understanding interpersonal relationship between human beings. Presented by John Bowlby, the important tenet of this theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to progress generally.

The central theme of attachment theory is that mothers who are available and responsive to their infant's needs establish a sense

The Development of Attachment Theory and Its Strengths and Limitations English psychiatrist John Bowlby is a leading and influential figure within the history of social reform. His work has influenced social work policies and legislation relating to child psychiatry and psychology. Bowlby was trained as a psychoanalyst, and was influenced by Freudians theories, but became influenced again in his attachment theory by the work of ethologists. The ethologists theory concentrates on looking at the role parents play rather than only the child. Bowlby believes that parenting has strong ties with biology and it explains why there are such strong emotions attached.

Psychologists realized that the first few years of a child 's life are vital to their personality and behavioral development. One of the most critical qualities of a child 's development is the child 's relationship with their caregiver. From determining a child 's early attachment patterns, it can help further the child 's behavior in later development, and the way the child will relate to others in her years to come. The acknowledgment of this simple fact has led many psychologists to create theories and findings to support this idea. Bowlby’s creation of the Attachment Theory sparked many famous psychologists to come up with ways to support his theory. Mary Ainsworth is known to be most famous for her “Strange Situation” procedure, which determined how attached a child is with their caregiver (usually the mother).

John Bowlby’s Attachment theory is relevant to serial murderers since it looks at the child’s early life experiences, focusing on the bond between the mother and child (Bretherton, 1992). It argues that a break in the bond will lead the child to a life of crime and delinquency. In this paper we will discuss two points. The first point is discussing Aileen’s Wuornos life from childhood to adulthood and the second point is explaining how her life is relevant to Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. We will finally know what happened in Aileen Wuornos’ life that caused her to become one of the most famous female serial killers of all time.

B1/A2/A*1-John Bowlby’s attachment theory is a positive aspect to this transition as the child are likely to gain secure attachments with their key worker which enables them to work closely with each other, this then allows the child to be more comfortable with any support they receive throughout the process, however the child may become too attached to their key worker and may face issues later when the times comes for them to separate therefore it is important for children to spend time with other members of staff. Children can be attached to other practitioners other than their key worker so it is important for both to communicate to ensure that the key worker knows everything about the child and keep on track with any paperwork they have to complete about the child and keep track of the child’s progress and development. I think that Bowlby attachment theory is important within this transition as the child going into care needs a secure attachment to someone as the attachment to their parents will be disrupted and the child needs someone for support especially a child of this age. The child can make an attachment to their foster carer however this also may be difficult if the child is in temporary foster care and are removed from care, this may cause the child distress as all the attachments they have made are being disrupted. There are many criticism of Bowlby’s theory, one of these are that Bowlby believed that ‘Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only

Many psychologists have come and gone, and many different theoretical orientations have been developed. With each orientation has come a new perspective on development, behaviour and mental processes. Some are similar, yet others could not be more contradictory. Attachment is one such theoretical orientation, developed by John Bowlby out of his dissatisfaction with other existing theories. Although Bowlby rejected psychoanalytical explanations for early infant bonds, the theory of attachment was influenced in part by the principles of psychoanalysis; in particular the observations by Ana Freud and Dorothy Burlingham of young children separated from

Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver. The theory proved that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social and emotional development in an infant. It is critical for this to occur in the child’s early infant years. However, failed to prove that this nurturing can only be given by a mother (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Many aspects of this theory grew out of psychoanalyst, John Bowlby’s research. There are several other factors that needed to be taken into account before the social worker reached a conclusion; such as issues surrounding poverty, social class and temperament. These factors, as well as an explanation of insecure attachment will be further explored in

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