Mary Ainsworth Attachment Theory

The majority of developmental theories say that children must develop a secure primary attachment in order to develop in a healthy manner. A secure and strong attachment is clearly essential for healthy future relationships. John Bowlby’s studies in childhood development led him to the conclusion that a strong attachment to a caregiver provides a necessary sense of security and foundation. Without such a relationship in place, Bowlby found that a great deal of developmental energy is expended in the search for stability and security. In general, those without such attachments are fearful and are less willing to seek out and learn from new

Hazan and Shaver (1987) aimed to investigate whether they could classify the responders’ love relationships as secure, ambivalent, and avoidant, whether there was a correlation between the formed attachment pattern from childhood and attachment pattern during the love relationships, and whether there was a correlation between the distribution of childhood attachment patterns and adult love relationships’ attachment patterns.

Another form of education comes from that of parenting. Parenting is the main focus of a young child’s education. If a parent wishes to be an effective parent, they must choose between two types of parenting, strict or not strict. This involves contemplating whether a parent should aim for love or fear in a child. Machiavelli wrote “friendships that are bought at a price, may be paid for but they are not acquired”. The belief here is, giving too much won’t get you anything. This is not true, in fact, by giving support, and in return, being loved by your child, it will encourage their social support, proactivity, and problem focused coping styles (Parental Warmth and Affection). A child will obtain higher self-esteem if a parent gives and thus returns love. In the surveys conducted (Parental Warmth and Affection), this could be displayed through hugs, in 1997, 87 percent of

Love can be an amazing thing and it is often said that nothing compares to the bond between a mother and her child, yet before a study called “The nature of love” which is discussed in the book “Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history psychological research,” our society had a very different understand about what caused this bond (Hock, 2013). In the book the author Roger Hock explores many different influential studies but in the section called “Discovering Love,” he takes a closer look into this study and discusses its importance (Hock, 2013). The influence of this study can be found in many different types of literature such as contemporary articles like “Building your own family,” which was published in Scientific American Mind (2014). This article implicitly provides further understand of the “The nature of love” study results and shows active efforts to continue building on the original theoretical ideas in order to change our views about human development (Jacobson, 2014). Even in modern text books like Psychology: Eighth Edition, can we find traces of the importance of this study. Thus this study not only provided a tremendous contribution to the field of Psychology but also changed society by altering its views on child rearing all together.

When babies and young children feel valued, secure and trust the people around them, they are more likely to thrive and achieve their developmental goals. Certain areas of development are linked to the strength of attachment that children have with those around them, especially emotional and language development. We also know that children learn from those they have a strong bond with and so cognitive development can also be linked to strong relationships. This is of course equally true with their primary carer, for example their parents, as well as with their key person in their setting.

Bowlby, John. (1988). A Secure Base: Pparent-child attachment and healthy human development. London: Basic Books.

One of the most important factors that affect child development is the relationship of the child with their primary caregiver. This is a tenet of developmental psychology known as attachment theory. John Bowlby, the creator of this theory, wanted to examine how early childhood experiences influence personality development. Attachment theory specifically examines infant’s reactions to being separated from their primary caregiver. Bowlby hypothesized that the differences in how children react to these situations demonstrates basic behavioral differences in infancy that will have consequences for later social and emotional development.

Attachment theory, put forth by John Bowlby, is in agreement with Freudian psychoanalytic theory in that our early experiences with caregivers shape our adult ability to love. In contrast to psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory focuses on what Bowlby called the attachment response (Belsky, 2013, p. 15-16). Basically, we are genetically pre-programmed to form attachments with others because this will help us survive (McLeod, 2007). Bowlby believed in monotropy, which is an attachment conceptualized as being a vital and close bond with just one attachment figure, typically the mother. This attachment to the mother is the most important and if it is broken or disrupted during the critical two-year period the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences of this maternal deprivation. This risk continues until the age of 5 (McLeod, 2007). So, based on this, a child who is 4 or 5 and whose parents are going through a divorce may experience a disrupted attachment to the mother due to diminished or incompetent parenting. Long-term consequences of maternal deprivation might include delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased aggression, depression and affectionless psychopathy. Attachment theory, just as in

Later on, this hypothesis brought up a wide interest in the effects of institutional upbringing. At that time there was limited empirical data and no comprehensive theory to account this conclusion. However, this work sparked considerable interest in the nature of early relationships, giving a strong impetus to a great body of research.

The most significant bond of life is between the infant and primary caregiver. John Bowlby, the eminent authority, describes attachment as the natural connection between baby and mother (as cited in Alexander, 1992, p.186). Family dynamics have changed since Bowlby’s time, for this reason, the research analyzes the relationship of the infant and primary caregiver. Bowlby’s attachment theory infers that the path of these bonds lay the groundwork for future behavior, view of one’s self, and relationship with others (Colonnesi et al., 2011). Research on abuse and neglect of infants and it’s correlation to insecure attachment and the type of insecure attachment is vital to set up an early intervention protocol.

children are not given the easiest circumstances to formulate the stereotypical love of parent and

In the first few months of life, the sole purpose of any child’s behaviour is to survive. This, more often than not, results in actions that reduce the risk of harm and increase the chances of longevity. Of these behaviours, some argue that the most influential is attachment behaviour. “Attachment behaviour is any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope with the world”(Bowlby, 1982). Therefore, children will make an effort to stay close to and under the protection of their primary caregiver. According to Webster, “through interactions with their primary caregiver, the child develops expectations and understandings about the workings of relationships. These mental representations of relationships become internalized to the degree that they influence feelings, thought and behaviour automatically and unconsciously” (1999, p.6). Moreover, the response of the identified individual plays a huge role in the child’s perception of the outside world. If the caregiver responds to the child’s needs in a caring and protective manner, the child will feel safe and comfortable in his or her surroundings. If, on the other hand, the caregiver is often emotionally and/or physically unavailable, the child is likely to

Research has revealed that there is a strong relationship between insecure attachment and a history of abuse and neglect (Begle, Dumas & Hanson, 2010). Insecure attachments are formed due to parenting stress and abusive parenting behavior. Parenting stress and abusive parenting behavior form children’s mental schemas of how the world works based upon early interactions with caregivers. These mental schemas construct their expectations about relationships. Ultimately

Bowlby’s attachment theory, as well as Erikson’s psychosocial theory, indicates that a child’s overall development is dependent on the care that they receive from their caregiver, more specifically their mother. Meeting the needs of the child and providing a

The children have to understand the importance of attachment theory because, it may help them to solve many