The Effects Of Early Family Relationships On Personality Development

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

Bowlby emphasised the significance of the mother-child bond, particularly in the first 3 years of a child’s life. If this relationship was unsatisfactory or if separation occurred during this crucial period, Bowlby asserted that serious psychological problems could ensure. This theory is called – attachment theory- and one does not have to fully support the psychoanalytical tradition to hold the view that, their things being equal, children appear to benefit in there is continuity in upbringing, especially during the early years. (Berridge, D., Cleaver, 1987, p

The attachment theory is a theory proposed by John Bowlby. The theory basically states that infants need to be attached to someone in order to have successful relationships as they grow older. Bowlby says, “Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space”

Bretherton I. (1992). The origins of John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Available: http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/online/inge_origins.pdf. Last accessed 01/03/2013.

A theory that is commonly known from John Bowlby (1969) is his theory on attachment (Obadina, 2013). This theory shows the importance and understanding of relationships between one another (Obadina, 2013). The

One of the key theorists of attachment is John Bowlby and his ‘Attachment theory". Bowlby believed ‘the attachment of a caregiver is an inherited mechanism to

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

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

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.

He focused on how attachment difficulties were transmitted from one generation to the next. In his development of attachment theory he propounded the idea that attachment behaviour was essentially an evolutionary survival strategy for protecting the infant from predators. Mary Ainsworth, a student of Bowlby’s, further extended and tested his ideas, and in fact played the primary role in suggesting that several attachment styles existed. The three most important experiences for Bowlby’s future work and the development of attachment theory were his work with:

Bowlby’s theory is fundamentally, based on scientific findings on early attachment development from childhood to adulthood (Fischer, 2006). He observed that infants separated from their parents or caregivers are emotionally distressed. Bowlby believed that individual’s behavior could be naturally well understood through the analysis of characteristic exploration that is connected with psychodynamic affiliation. Bowlby’s exodus from the traditional psychoanalytic theory at that time, earned him many years of hatred by his pears. It was after his death in 1990 that the British analytic community issued a formal apology to his family for their negative action against him (Fischer, 2006).

Alfred Adler, a renowned and highly influential psychologist who came to prominence in the early part of the 20th century coined the term ‘family constellation’, which served as a metaphor to describe the influence of familial bonds and dynamics upon the personality development of individuals, particularly children. Adler’s conception of the family constellation has been adopted and studied extensively since his time. Rudolf Dreikurs built upon Adler’s work some years later, and vouched for the usefulness of the family constellation perspective in psychoanalytic work:

John Bowlby, a British psychologist (1907 to 1990) coined the term attachment. He was a psychiatrist and his influences were Freud, Melanie Klein and Lorenz. Bowlby’s attachment theory suggests that children come into the world biologically pre- programmed to form attachments with others as this will help them survive.

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

It wasn’t until the time of Sigmund Freud that people looked at the psyches of an individual and what kind of impact that could have on that individual’s life. Before that time, children were seen as extra farm hands and generally as cheap labor. Families did not look at how the children were treated and the possible impact on their development. Later, Erikson and Piaget furthered the study of development and expanded the road that Freud had pioneered. While all consider Freud the father of psychoanalytic thinking, few turn to many of his first theories in reference to development. Freud forged a path by which all future developmental researchers walked through to further advance the study of development. While, experts have clearly not