Attachment Theory: Child Observation

Bowlby distinguishes four main levels in the development of attachment behavior. Phase (1) orientation and signals without discrimination of figure; Phase (2) orientation and signals directed toward one or more discriminated figures; Phase (3) maintenance of proximity to a discriminated figure by means of locomotion; Phase (4) formation of a reciprocal relation (Ainsworth, 1969, p. 30). Phase (1) during the first few weeks of infancy, demonstrates ways to discriminate from one another, by responding with grasping, smiling, and crying by responding to tactile functions and stimuli. Phase (2) infant behaves in the same way as phase one, but in a discrete fashion by displaying behaviors by mothers voice, such as crying, smiling, and by touch. Phase (3) infant shows behaviors when mother approaches, using signals such as, climbing, exploring, clinging to mother, and using the mother or caregiver as a secure base. Phase (4) infant predicts mother’s movement and adopting mother’s behaviors as his/her own (Ainsworth, 1969).

Originally created by renowned social scientists, John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, Attachment Theory is primarily interested in the relationships of infants and preschool-aged children with their primary caregivers and how these relationships affect the way infants learn to build relationships with their caregivers, other persons, and environments. It is a foundational theory within the field of childhood development and the subject of many published, empirical papers, and theoretical studies. (Cassidy and

The work of psychologists Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby embarks on deeper insight into the evolution of attachment in early childhood. Bowlby developed four phases of attachment beginning at birth: pre-attachment, attachment in the making, clear-cut attachment and the formation of a reciprocal relationship. Throughout the first three phases, nonverbal cues such as facial expressions and eye contact occur. By the final phase, infants’ language and cognitive development grow. They begin to understand separation from their primary attachment. Ainsworth created the Strange Situation test to investigate the attachment behaviors found in

The aim of this study was to tell whether or not children interacted differently in a “strange situation” as well as to explore attachment and exploratory behaviour. The children were placed under different conditions in order to tell how they reacted, these conditions included being placed in a room with a carer, a stranger entering the room, and being left in the room alone, these conditions were used to observe attachment theories.

Attachment refers to the ability of individuals to form robust and affectionate bonds throughout the lifespan. John Bowlby was the one of first researchers to draw attention to the idea of attachment and spent his career dedicated to the investigation and refinement of attachment theory. Bowlby was a practicing psychoanalyst and sought to explore the link between mental health, behavioural dysfunctions and early childhood experiences. Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980) posited that the emotional bonds that are formed in early development through close contact between the young (especially infants) and caregivers, have a profound influence on the child’s psychological, interpersonal and behavioural functioning, as the primary purpose of attachment is to ensure the survival and security of offspring (Khetrapal, 2009).

John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth 's attachment theories derive from the idea that in early development infants develop different attachment behaviors in relation to their caregivers. This emotional bond between an infant and their parents can have an enduring impact on future relationships throughout an individual 's life. Research has shown that there does not have to be a biological component for an infant to bond with a parent. Instead the bond or attachment is related to “quality and quantity” of interaction between parent and child. (Boyd, & Bee, p. 130)

Attachment refers to the emotional connection that matures between infants and their primary caregivers throughout the first year of life. Attachment appears to be a universal feature of development in all cultures. Its importance has led to a continuing debate about the value of attachment in infancy on children’s later development. (Wallace & Caulfield, 1998). There are three key theories that have dominated the literature on attachment: Sigmund Freud, Konrad Lorenz and John Bowlby. Bowlby’s theory proposes justifications of how parent-infant interactions shape their adaptive behavioural capabilities in response to emotional and social involvements. (Colin, 1994). The multifaceted nature of attachment creates a dynamic theoretical perspective. There are two fundamental dimensions: attachment as a behavioural system, and as a development system. The behavioural system is the idea that human infants – like other mammals – are endowed with a specific behavioural system and the aim is to maintain close contact with their caregiver. (Sperling & Berman, 1994). Attachment as a developmental process states that parental sensitivity and the child’s ability to trust the caregiver’s accessibility is the root of a person’s formation of healthy processing. (Erickson, 1950).

Attachment theory concentrates on the relationships between parents and children or parents and primary caregivers. According John Bowlby, the author of attachment theory, attachment is inborn and is as essential for survival as food, water, and air; it is an emotional, object specific relationship that develops towards a primary caregiver (Bowlby, 1969). Through series of experiments Bowlby explained the nature and the role of physical proximity of a child to a caregiver as a secure base for exploration of the world (Bowlby, 1969). He concluded that it is essential for a child’s healthy development to have at least one caregiver who takes on a role of that secure base, which Bowlby also referred to as secure haven (Bowlby, 1969). Bowlby identified three main stages of the development of an attachment. During each of the stages a child exhibits different types of proximity-seeking behaviors (Bowlby, 1969). In turn, a parent responds to those behaviors and the quality of those responses contribute into the development of internal working models in a child (Bowlby, 1969). As defined by Bowlby (1969), internal working model is a dynamic process that enables a child to predict parental responses in times of distress. The critical period for developing internal working models is between 6 months and 2 years of old (Bowlby, 1969). Bowlby proposed that if during this critical period a parent was responsive to the child’s needs and provided a secure base for a child, the child would

The child’s attachment to the parent emerges gradually, Bowlby (1969) suggested three phases which changes as the child gets older. Non-focused orienting and signalling, focus on one or more figures and secure base behaviour. Bowlby believed that a baby starts life with a set of behaviour patterns that face him toward others and signal his needs, at this stage there isn’t much evidence that the child is

When reading the article and the definitions of Attachment based on Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth we can debate the fact that how we make attachments plays a key role in the future as adults. Bowlby believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. He suggested attachment also serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the child 's chances of survival. We can learn that Attachment theory is focused on the relationships and bonds between people, particularly long-term relationships including those between a parent and child. The central theme of attachment theory is

Despite the reiteration by Bowlby that the basic essential dynamics of Attachment Theory covered the normative dynamics exhibited by children in accordance with the attachment behavioral system, there are notable are individual deviations in the manner in which children assess the accessibility of the caregiver or the attachment figure. Additionally, there are discernable differences in the manner that infants regulate their attachment traits as a response to the corresponding threats. The individual differences in the attachment patterns only surfaced upon the study by Bowlby’s colleague Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) (Matos et al. 149-165). Ainsworth commenced the systematic study of child-parent separations upon which she articulated a formal

Think of your infant’s mind as a record into which life’s experiences and relationships cut deep grooves. Suppose the strength of the parent-infant attachment is represented by the depth of the grooves in the baby’s mental record.

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

Within an ideal attachment relationship as suggested by Mary Ainsworth (1963, 1967) in the strange situation procedure, the caregiver acts as a secure base where to the infant can return during exploration of the environment if the infant feels insecure or fearful. John Bowlby (1969, 1988) proposed the maternal deprivation hypothesis based on the belief that infants are biologically predisposed to form attachments to a caregiver, founded upon the caregivers ability to respond appropriately to the infants needs. The maternal deprivation hypothesis proposes long-term damage due to absence of attachment with a caregiver during the critical or sensitive period, within the first two to three years of life. Caregivers responses to emotional cues through such things as affect attunement, in which the care-giver is sensitive and attuned to the infants emotions, as well as the care-givers own representation of their childhood experiences, as indicated by such thing such as AAI are known to predict infant attachment to a caregiver.

For these reasons, a secure attachment is crucial to the infant’s social development. Due to many factors such as the mother’s age, the family dynamics, the mother’s personality, and the amount of experience the parents have, however, secure attachments do not always form. Mary Ainsworth classified infant attachment into four different categories: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized (Schacter, D.L., Gilbert, D.T., & Wegner, D.M., 2013, p. 322).