Deconstructing Attachment Theory

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)

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.

Showing some sort of independence, weakening the attachment between them and the caregiver, however some of the infants did display some physiological changes after the caregiver had left them in the room alone with the stranger. Another style Ainsworth noticed in this study was insecure ambivalent attachment. This is when the infant refused to leave the caregiver and independently investigate the environment. Once the stranger entered the room there was a high increase in anxiety in the infant and aggressively cried when they caregiver left the room. Lastly disorganised attachment style consisted of defects in behaviours due to past experiences leaving them traumatised and fearful of punishment.

This foundation theory developed by John Bowlby, focuses on the form, quality, and strength of human attachments made in early life and their effect on development and pro-social behaviors (Tuner, 2011, p. 30). Bowlby’s attachment theory diverged from Freudian theory in many important ways, none more so than his emphasis on the importance of actual experience to human development. In Bowlby’s view, the quality of interactions between infant and caregiver(s), beginning at birth, motivated specifically by the child’s needs for safety and protection, are central to lifespan development (Turner, 2011, p. 31). Bowlby’s main interest was the formation, beginning in infancy, of the behaviors that collectively compose the attachment behavioral system.

This essay atempts to look at some of the attachment theories and researches that have been

Attachment theory is the joint work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991). It states that the caregiver-infant exchange is the foundation for all self-regulatory capacities. The physiological regulation occurs when caregiver-infant exchanges are marked by congruency and attunement (Schore, 2003). Infants with secure attachment experienced this attuned and congruent response by their caregiver, thus appropriately expanding their coping strategies for managing distress in the service of regulation (Padykula, 2010). In other words, Attachment Theory says that when an infant does not get the needed attention and predictable care from their caregiver, their ability to regulate themselves is severely effected. In human behavior specifically, Bowlby (1969) identified goal-directed behaviors as links within a chain. Each act sent stimuli terminating its unique goal while activating the next link. This stimuli was either external or intrapsychic. Attachment Trauma is when the caregiver is not emotionally attuned, and instead of being a regulating force, extreme levels of stimulation and arousal are induced. This results in very high stimulation in abuse, and/or very low stimulation in neglect (Padykula,

Attachment theory concerns the psychological, evolutionary and ethological ideas that help us understand relationships between people. Theorists believe that a child has a need to form attachments with an adult care giver to ensure adequate growth and social and emotional development. This ‘bond’ has to be maintained by the care giver and mostly uninterrupted to ensure a child grows into a happy and confident, adapted adult.

Attachment is an affectional tie that an infant forms with a caregiver—a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time [1]. Though attachment can be formed in different ways. Attachment can be used in a relationship, such as, a women growing extreme feelings for a man and the feeling is mutual, but the women begins to always wanting to be around. Though, this essay will not cover intimate relationships. This essay will be covering attachment among infants and how their stages of attachment with their caregivers.

Forming a strong attachment is vital to an individual’s development, beginning in infancy and throughout childhood. The attachment theory focuses on the capacity of parent-child relationships, and is defined as an emotional bond that unites child and caregiver (Brooks 2013). The parent’s behavior with the child and their desire to be with them is what helps determine the quality of the attachment formed. Their positive interactions together lead to a secure attachment between them, where as a distant relationship can lead to in-secure and anxious attachments. As an infant, attachment is vital to a healthy development that affects them throughout life.

Bowbly (1973) referred that the attachment system to be in relation to brain development, this is normally shaped by early caregiver experiences. Babies develop a secure attachment if they have been brought up with caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their needs, who are reliable, constant and non- hostile to the child’s responses. These experiences give children the ability to build internal models of relationships, which will then influence the degree to how they see themselves to be loveable, and to the degree, which they perceive others being supportive, dependable and also non-threatening towards them. However, when children experience unresponsiveness from their caregivers this can develop into insecure attachment. Insecure attachment is more than likely to happen when parents are neglectful.

Attachment theory is accepted by most psychologists and psychiatrists as the best explanation for how we develop the capacity to form relationships with others and relate to our environment. It asserts that the methods we use to relate to others, manage our needs, express our demands, and shape our expectations for the world are rooted in our relationships with our early caregivers. Through these interactions we learn to balance our feelings and need states with others and to establish our varying degrees of independence, dependence, power, and control. Attachment also impacts self-esteem through the experience of conflict with caregivers.

Together with her colleagues, she laid the foundation that expanded the concept of attachment into an experience that is open to empirical evaluation. Ainsworth’s started her work by strategically observing maternal reaction and sensitivity to the needs of infants in order to further examine and understand the intimate bonding exchange between mother and infant. Therefore, attachment theory explains the behavior of infants towards their attachment figures during separation and reunion periods.

This paper examines one such scenario, the case of full hearing loss in the infant and what its potential effects may be on the development of Attachment in the child’s early

This essay will look at the development of attachment theory since the time of Bowlby and the many theories proposed to determine which best describes attachment. The Attachment theory highlights the importance of attachment especially between mothers and infants in regards to the infants personal development, both physically and emotionally. Bowlby describes attachment as “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings”(Bowlby, 1969, p.194). Bowlby’s attachment theory suggested that mothers and infants have a biological need to be in contact with one another and there would only be one main attachment made with the infant (Bowlby, 1968, 1988).

Attachment theory, according to Morelli and Rothbaum (2007), is the development of a child’s relationships with the self and others necessary for the psychological health of the individual. It refers to the meaningful connections an individual makes with people. The quality of attachment one has with others widely affects their development, especially during their childhood (Morelli & Rothbaum, 2007). Attachment theory mainly focuses on the infant-mother bond, as it is important that the attachment formed is secure for the infant’s well-being and development (Morelli & Rothbaum, 2007).