John Bowlby Attachment Theory Analysis

Precious is a movie based on the novel Push by Sapphire (Daniels and Fletcher, 2008). It is on the life of an illiterate 16 year old African American girl, Claireece “Precious” Jones. (Natividad, 2010). I have applied John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory and Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development on the film. These theories helped identify an understanding of the characters, family group, and community in the film. I have primarily assessed Precious as the chosen character. This paper will analyze the many factors in assessing her human behavior.

John Bowlby had worked with residential school children as a volunteer early on in his career and had determined that the children who suffered the most from anger outbursts, aggressivity, and whom her termed “affectionless” were also the children who had suffered the most maternal deprivation (). Bowlby advanced that the loss of the mother figure was extremely distressing and damaging and could influence adults' behavior years later. Hence, where psychoanalysis had been concerned “solely with the imaginings of the childish mind, the fantasied pleasures and the dreaded retributions” (Fonagy), Bowlby showed that humans do not develop in a void or as “individual monads” but as members of interacting systems. Bowlby developed his theory on attachment for several decades, and at a time where any dealings with childhood trauma were still rigorously influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis through the likes of psychoanalysts such Anna Freud or Melanie Klein. Even Winnicott was “revulsed” upon reading Bowlby's papers (siegel). It certainly was a bitter pill to swallow for psychoanalysts who had been repeating since Freud that the newborn was a little tyrant fighting for oral gratification at the mother's breast and merely clinging on to fulfil sexual instinctual needs. Bowlby's work was thus eschewed for a considerable time, despite his involvement with the World Health Organisation and the considerable empirical weight that was added to his findings by Mary Ainsworth's studies in

John Bowlby created the theory of attachment, this is where he believed that the earliest bonds formed by babies with their parents/care gives have a tremendous impact of their relationships/attachments towards people in their continuous life. Also Bowlby believe that the attachment bond is to keep the infants close to their mother, this is to improve the child’s chances in survival. What is attachment? This is a strong affectionate tie with special people which young babies will make in the early stage of their life e.g. an attachment towards their mum and dad.

However one person can not provide everything a growing child needs and children can form close attachments with a number of people. These emotional bonds that children develop with their parents and other caregivers are vital for their personal, social and emotional development.

The formation of secure attachments with the primary caregiver is thought to be of great significance by John Bowlby, who believed that the infant was completely reliant on the caregiver to care and provide for them (as cited in Psychology, Martin, Carlson & Buskist). Those children with sensitive caregivers would grow up to be more confident and developed in all aspects of life, for example forming relationships in later life. Those with unresponsive caregivers would see the world as unpredictable and unreliable. Nelson (1996) claimed that the bond between the primary caregiver and child is extremely important in how an infant sees the world around them (as cited in Attachment from infancy to childhood). Yet, attachments, in this case insecure ones, are not the only reason as to why we develop into the individuals we are. There are other causes that are unrelated to attachment that explain our later development.

Attachment theory refers to the strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people especially between the infant and primary caregiver. The caregiver could be the mother, grand parents, father, aunty, uncle and so on. . According to Maccoby (1980) attachment has four key characteristics including proximity; where the infant desires to stay close to the person they are attached to, separation anxiety; where if the infant is separated from the caregiver may lead to distress; pleasure; where the infant and caregiver feel pleasure when reunited and finally frequent contact where the infant is aware of the caregiver and seeks to be in contact with them always. This essay will cover an analysis of attachment theory in terms of nativist and empiricist debates, an evaluation of Bowlby's research theory of attachment in terms of childcare and later development and evaluation of studies into maternal privation and deprivation.

Bella has been an advocate for my learning about children in general. Bella has brought to me a greater respect for children living in a safe and stable home environment . Every morning, Bella and her family come to my classroom with smiles and positive attitudes. Regardless that Bella’s father has a permanent work disability, the family is happy to just have each other. Bella demonstrates these actions towards her classmates, teachers and the rest of her family members.

When it was time, our precious baby boy was born and we decided to name him Noah. Noah as a newborn was fussy and often wanted to be held. Breastfeeding time seemed to be the perfect soothing method. I enjoyed breastfeeding because it builds up his immune system. When Noah was 3 months old there was not much attachment present, however he would smile at familiar people and toys, and was able to laugh at surprising or funny things indicating that he was comfortable with new situations and was developing awareness of his surroundings. Later on Noah recognized me as his primary caregiver because I was the one always tending to his needs. When he was upset, anxious, or troubled he preferred me over anyone else. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment “The infant knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world”. The type of attachment that Noah had with me at the time was what Bowlby considered to be an emotional one. It was through an emotional bond that I made Noah feel protected when he was most vulnerable. As a result, Noah was more attached to me than he was to my husband. As time transcurred, he was able to bond to my husband by spending more quality time together.

Technology has taken over our lives and we are constantly being distracted. According to Jana Brech, teachers have noticed that attention spans of children are getting shorter as they opt for screen based activities over regular reading. Their attachment style may also play a role in how much they pay attention to given assignments. As a result, technology can be affecting college student’s attention span and their attachment style may have a role on who pays more attention. John Bowlby came up with an attachment theory in 1969, he proposed the emotional bond between a child and their primary caregiver which has an affect on the child’s psychological development shaping their personality and the way they will cope.

John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure,

Attachment refers to an affectional bond; a bond which is exclusive to an individual and cannot be exchanged to another. A particularly important bond is the emotional one between an infant and its primary care giver. When it comes to attachment it is often said that it is either down to nature or nurture. Nature is the belief that it is genetic based whilst nurture believes it is our environment and experiences.

An attachment is a strong, intimate, emotional connection between people that persists over time and across certain circumstances. It does not have to be mutual. Attachment is characterized by specific behaviours in children, such as seeking proximity with the attachment figure when upset or threatened (Bowlby, 1969). John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst and he himself believed that mental health and behavioural problems could be attributed to early childhood. Bowlby was influenced by the work of Harry Harlow.

Children living in fatherless homes has become a widespread epidemic within today’s society and imaginably one of America’s most substantial domestic or social setbacks (DeBell, 2008). An absentee parent is described as a non-custodial parent who has abandoned their child and has been unsuccessful in maintaining any form of physical contact or financial support (U.S. Legal Definitions, 2016). While living without either parent could potentially create distress for any child, studies have shown that an absentee father to be considerably more predominant in terms of the child’s emotional well-being. These studies suggest that overall health, academics, educational experience, and less parental participation in academic events can all play a factor in children’s lives when dealing with an absentee father (DeBell, 2008). Studies completed in 2003 indicated that an overall 36% of children in our society live without a father in their life- the lowermost of 28% of

John Bowlby’s theory of attachment asserts that an infant forms an attachment to the primary caregiver to ensure survival. Developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth furthered this idea by devising attachment styles in infants. Ainsworth believed that the quality of care given by the mother or primary caregiver results in the infant developing a secure or insecure attachment. Ainsworth identified three attachment styles, namely; secure, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent attachments. As the word infers, a secure infant has trust in the caregiver and will use the mother as a secure base from which they can explore. Conversely, an avoidant attachment results in the child not having confidence in the mother where attempts to be intimate have been rejected, and anxious ambivalent attachment is a result of inconsistent parenting where the child is left feeling anxious, suspicious and mistrustful. A further contribution to attachment styles was made by psychologists’ Mary Main and Judith Solomon, who suggested a fourth type; disorganized attachment, where a child behaves in a disoriented and contradictory manner. Maternal sensitivity refers to the extent to which the maternal figure is available to the infant. There is, however, an argument that biology is the reason for the bond that is formed by an infant with its mother and the attachment style they develop in life. This paper serves to demonstrate that attachment styles are a result of both biological factors and the sensitivity

This report will be about John Bowlby and his theory of attachment plus criticisms and how these come into effect in practice and legislation.