The Evolutionary Theory Of Children

What is the definition of attachment? If you look it up in a dictionary it explains that it is ‘an emotional bond between an infant or toddler and primary caregiver, a strong bond being vital for the child’s normal behavioural and social development’. That strong bond between infant and caregiver is believed to happen between the ages of 6-8 months although Bowlby (1958) suggests that the infants are born into this world pre-programmed to form attachments, they have innate behaviours in the way of crying, smiling, crawling and cooing which will stimulate attention and comforting responses from the caregivers. These behaviours are called social releasers. Kagan et al (1978)

Chapter six in the book Disorders of Childhood Development and Psychopathology, authored by Parritz and Tory, points out that one of the most important accomplishments for caregivers and infants in the first year of life is developing a strong attachment relationship. During that time that baby should begin to gain a sense of self, others, and the world around them. Babies gain a secure attachment when their needs are consistently meet, they feel love, affection and from their caregiver, and they safe in their environment. From an evolutionary standpoint, attachments between a baby and his caregiver were necessary for survival. Besides a secure attachment there are three other types of attachments.

An evolutionary psychologist, like Kevin LaLand (2011) may discuss the importance of prenatal learning by discussing that “modern humans are not just primitive savages struggling to make psychological sense of an alien contemporary world.” The baby is genuinely trying to learn about the world it is going to enter. The baby relies on the clues the mother gives it through her diet and the environment in which she lives. Paul stated (2011), Hinting to the baby, by malnourishing it, that we live in a world of deprivation when we actually live in a world of plenty could have harsh adverse health effects.

By definition, “attachment is the emotional bond between an infant and the primary caregiver (Romero; Perry).” During the first eight months of life, an infant will typically form an emotional attachment to a caregiver. The kind of attachment is based on the nurture and care the infant receives. The type of attachment between an infant and a caregiver can help determine the child’s personality and development (Romero).

Attachment relationships develop gradually from the time of birth and for the first 2 years of the infant’s life.

Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)

Maccoby defines attachment as `a relatively enduring emotional tie to a specific other person.' Human infants seem to have an innate sense of willingness to form attachment relationships almost instantly. This bonding is naturally a two way process.

Attachments are intrinsic to a child’s development both in the short term and for the duration of their lives. Infants have an innate need to develop an attachment with their mother to ensure their survival and are equipped with evolutionary characteristics called social releasers; physical social releasers such as large eyes and a small chin are found to be more aesthetically pleasing to the parents so they are more likely to care for them and behavioural social releasers for example, crying; very young infants typically only cry if they 're hungry, cold or in pain (Gross 2015 p535) this alerts the parents to an infants immediate need. At around 7 or 8 months of age children begin to make specific attachments for reasons other than survival, children display proximity maintaining behaviour normally with the mother,

In developmental psychology, attachment describes an affectional bond between an infant and its caregiver. An infant who is attached to its caregiver will want to maintain proximity to him/her, will experience distress upon separation and will use the caregiver as a secure base. This paper will discuss two theories in developmental psychology: The nurture theory and the nature theory. The nurture theory, known as the behaviourism theory, tells us that babies learn all of their behaviours and that attachment is a result of conditioning. We will look at two types of learning and evaluate the nurture theory using research. In contrast, the nature theory is an evolutionary theory of Bowlby (1988) which states that babies are born with a survival instinct to use social releases to ensure adults care for them (Eysenck, 2012). Certain concepts of Bowlby’s (1988) research will be outlined in this paper and and research will be used to evaluate the nature theory.

As humans, building relationships between others is a form of connecting and communicating. It is a social situation that is experienced every day through the course of a lifetime. The initial relationship that is made is between the mother and the child. This bond that connects two people is known to be called attachment. The theory of attachment begins at birth, and from that, continuing on to other relationships in family, friends, and romance. Attachment is taught through social experiences, however the relationship with the mother and her temperament are the key factors in shaping the infants attachment type, which

Attachment is the method through which people acquire specific positive and close emotional bonds with others. In mature relationships, people may be equal attachment figures. However, this is not the case in a relationship between the child and parent. The child-parent attachment is a tie based on a need for safety, security and protection, paramount during infancy and childhood when the developing individual is undeveloped and weak. As a result, infants unconsciously attach to their caregivers. This paper will further discuss the importance of early emotional attachment in development as well as progressive concepts and empirical foundations.

According to this weeks lecture, infants begin to develop a type of attachment to their parents starting at a very young age,

The primary role of the article is to emphasize some unique characteristics of the ethological-evolutionary idea of the effect. It is through citation of the reports concerning the interactions among the toddler attachment conduct with other behaviors highlighted above. It is to show the interaction in which reports of behaviors exhibited by one-year-old who is in a strange state of affairs; and to consider behaviors which are parallel among weird-situation behavior and the behavior reported by other clinical, experimental and observational contexts.

By responding with care and comfort, this enables for an “attachment bond” to form between the infant and caregiver, most commonly the mother (White et al., 2013). Following on from Bowlby’s theory, Mary Ainsworth investigated the theory of attachment through observing the reactions of infants when their mothers left them alone with strangers. The investigation was named as the “Ainsworth’s strange situation assessment” (White et al., 2013). It was discovered through this investigation that infants who had secure attachments with their mothers were upset when separated and were easily soothed when the mother returns. This investigation implies that infants with secure attachment to their mothers show signs of normal social development.

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