When discussing the concepts of temperament, attachment, Erickson's Trust versus Mistrust, and maltreatment and how their interaction impacts a child’s development first you should define these terms under this context. Then by exploring how they interact you can begin to draw conclusions from firsthand knowledge emphasizing these interactions. Temperament or the influence biology tends to play in how happy or restless a child is, and how they react to the environment around them. How easily the baby cries, or smiles, if they are afraid or welcoming to strangers, are all ways we define a child’s temperament. These emotions and interactions are the basis of the child’s developing personality. The emotional bond between child and caregiver is defined as an attachment. This tie between child and caregiver is further broken down by the nature of this bond. Whether this bond is secure or insecure, and if insecure, the nature of the insecurity such as: avoidant, disorganized, or ambivalent are influenced by the interactions with that caregiver at an early age. …show more content…
A child looks towards its caregiver to provide for their basic needs. If these needs are met, in a caring and timely manner, then a sense of trust develops between the child and their caregiver. If the quality of care is inconsistent or unreliable, then the infant will develop mistrust. A positive outcome during this stage leads to hope in the child and failure leads to fear in the infant. Babies will carry this outcome with them in future relationships and how they deal with their
Attachment theory explains how a child interacts with the adult looking after him or her. An attachment can be thought of as a unique emotional tie between a child and another person, usually an adult. If a child has a healthy attachment, this means the child can be confident that the adult will respond to their needs. For example if they are hungry, tired or frightened, the adult will respond to meet their needs or reassure and comfort them. This gives the child confidence to explore their environment and develop a good sense of self-esteem.
Infants tend to form an attachment for safety and security with a certain individual how usually its primary caregiver, which is usually the mother. There are four types of attachment and among the four secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, and disorganized-disoriented attachment. The four attachment develop on how much the level of response is given to them. When the child cries and how well the parents reacts each time, create a pattern that child will use in developing relationships in the future. A Secure attachment child, see their mothers as their security and comfort zone.
His idea of the theory was that when infants became attached to adults whom are responsive and sensitive during the social interactions and form a maintained caregiving relationship during the 6 months to 3 years of life (McLeod). Without the development of attachment, children could suffer from serious impairments both psychological and social. This process establishes various forms of attachment, which in the future will guide the thoughts, feelings, and expectations in children as adults in their future relationships. In this paper, there will be explanations, examples, and other psychologist discussing their attachment theories. There are four different style of attachment in adults; Secure, Dismissive, Preoccupied, and Fearful-Avoidant.
The secure babies used their mothers as a base to explore and as a protective safe haven. They were upset when the caregivers left but when they returned, they brought safety to the baby. Babies who had an avoidant attachment, didn’t want their caregiver upon return to the room. The caregivers for these babies may have been unresponsive to their signals of distress. Some babies were also classified as having resistant attachments, and tried kicking or arching their backs when comforted by the caregiver.
There are four styles of attachment that have been identified in adults: dismissive-avoidant, fearful-avoidant, secure, and anxious-preoccupied. These all respond to the infant’s classifications which are secure, insecure-ambivalent, insecure-avoidant, and disorganized/disoriented. The two main outcomes that happen because of the infant’s relationship between the mother are secure attachment and insecure attachment. Secure attachment happens right at the beginning of a child’s birth. A child who will have secure relationships and be able to trust people, will receive an enormous amount of love from their mother.
Attachment theory states that either secure or insecure bonds may form between infant and mother in the first several months of the infant’s life for the purposes of safety and security. The bond formed between infant and mother influences the quality of the relationships a child has throughout his or her life. One major reasoning of the attachment theory is that the parents are a sanctuary of safety throughout all of early childhood. Insecure attachments promote feelings of threat, rejection, and personal unworthiness. This can also be the explanation for the dream children stashing food away because of the possible threat that there,” will come a time when they will not be fed” (Smith 99).Unhealthy attachments not only lead to poor caregiver-child relationships, but can also cause a dysfunctional self-development, defective relationships, substance abuse problems, and educational difficulties.
Attachment according to John Bowlby, “is defined as the formation of a psychological and emotional relationship between an infant and its primary caregiver . Its also a pattern of relational style that the child learns from the adults and caregivers whom play the largest role in the child’s life.” A caregiver is a person who gives help and protection to an individual. For example, mother to child or father and child. “That pattern is learned in early childhood and thought to repeat itself throughout and individual’s life, in both their social and romantic relationships.”
This state is called trust vs. mistrust. The child is completely dependent on caregivers, requiring proper care and love. This stage is particularly important in establishing trust and hope. The second stage, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, takes place within two to three years of age. This phase is focused on children developing a sense of autonomy and skills.
This test observed patterns in the infants’ experiences of separation and reunion with their mother, and their reaction to a stranger, in order to evaluate the type of attachment relationship the infant shared with their mother (Ainsworth, 1978). Ainsworth found a significant consistency between the mothers’ interactive styles and the reactions of the infants. The results of this test led Ainsworth to classify the behaviours into three main categories. She identified the infants to have secure attachment, or one of two forms of insecure attachment, avoidant or ambivalent (Music,
Sam and Maria display several attitudes during this experiment, including distress, joy, anxiety, curiosity and anger. By assessing the actions and attitudes of the toddlers, I can determine what attachment they have to their respective caregivers. In the first scenario of the Strange Situation, the 18 month old toddler (Sam) exhibits secure attachment. Sam’s exploratory tendencies are characteristic of secure attachment.
The key behind this theory is that the early bond that develops between caregiver and child influences expectations about how the world works and how people are supposed to behave and interact. They further emphasized that mental representations that the infants form are
Failure to develop trust will result in fear and belief that the world is unpredictable and inconsistent. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (toddlerhood): Following infants’ understanding of a predictable environment, toddlers are starting to realize if they can depend on others. At this stage, toddlers are a step towards developing as an individual, in other
Theories (Erikson & Attachment) According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, trust vs. mistrust, occurs in the first year of life. Erikson believed that the caregiver’s response to the infant’s cries help them develop a sense of trust, when the caregiver responds right away to the infant’s distress of crying or fussing (Mooney, 2000). Erikson believed that in the earliest years of life, mainly during infancy, patterns of trust or mistrust are formed that control, or at least influence, a person’s actions or interactions for the rest of life (Erikson, 1950). Bowlby hypothesized that children are born with a predisposition to be attached to caregivers and that children will organize their behavior and thinking in order to maintain those relationships (Bettmann, 2006).
Securely attached children have the capacity to be connected with their and others emotions and can talk about it easily. They are aware of the main elements of positive relationship building and are capable of building relationships with certain expectations. They have better coping mechanisms and have healthier way of relieving their pain and trauma. Insecure attachment is found in the children who weren't able to establish a mutual relationship with their primary caretaker or parent. It can be caused by various reasons: if the child is never sure if he his needs are going to be met, or if the parent is going to respond with anxiety, stress or if the parent is going to just ignore the needs.
Through factors such as cognitive development of the infant, attentive care and intimate interactions with a primary caregiver, the attachment relationship is created – shaping the infants- caregiver bond. By examining the interactions between an infant and their primary caregiver, we can identify secure, insecure and disorganized attachment (Ainsworth, 1978; Cassidy 1994); which can reveal a great deal about the relationship between the infant and attachment figure. Overall, the quality of attachment bonds formed in the early years can have long lasting effects on an infant’s emotional security and social competence; not only shaping their ability to form relationships, but laying the foundations for the social, emotional and mental development of the