Erikson Attachment Theory

The attachment theory specifies that an infants and young child requires consistent relationships with people to thrive and develop. Attachment is described as a essential need with a biological basis where infants or young children need to maintain a sense of security with a specific person. Developing a secure attachment between the infant and their parents or guardian is an important part of early childhood development, due to the many things that can interfere with the development of a healthy attachment. Without a secure attachment, an infant may develop problems that can continue throughout their lives and affect the relationships with others.

Attachment is as an affection or fondness for someone or something. Attachment is “an affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through space and time and serves to join them emotionally”.(Butler.I, Hickman.C ,2011, pg 14) Attachment theory is the theory of how infant and caregiver bond from the works of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991 ).They use the approachs from animal behaviour, how people communicate, how infants process information, how people change over their life , and the unconscious mind. Attachment is “not synonymous with love or affection; it is not an overall descriptor of the relationship between the parent and child which includes other parent–child interactions such as feeding, stimulation, play or problem solving” (Prior, 2006, pg 15)

The attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth is an essential key that explains many child-parent relationships and the influence it has on development. Attachment is a process that begins during infancy in an individual’s life and can have long lasting effects. Bowlby’s theory concluded that the bonds formed between a caregiver and a child during the early years were the blueprints for future relationships. Ainsworth’s “strange situation” experiments and numerous studies tested Bowlby’s original theory and expanded on it. This paper will provide an overview on the research that has been conducted on the effects of attachment patterns on an individual’s early and later development.

Theories, Key Concepts, Principles, and Assumptions Two theories that will be discussed in this paper is Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development and John Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment. Erikson’s theory is considered psychosocial, emphasizing the importance of social and cultural factors within a lifespan, from infancy to later adulthood. Erikson’s theory is broken down into eight consecutive age-defined stages. During each stage, a person experiences a psychosocial crisis that contributes to their personality development.

Many thoughts and emotions involved. But when you see the child again and they stop by to visit, you realize how important this job is” (Strandas and Fredriksen, 905). In some cases, nurses have to take on the responsibility of advocating for the child themselves if they do not

When caring for infants and nonverbal children, I will use a soothing tone of voice and pay close attention to nonverbal cues5 such as grimacing and facial responses when

And if this did not work, caregivers were made to understand that sometimes an infant’s cries cannot be soothed and that the best course of action is to walk away, calm down and then return. If they were having difficulty calming down, they were to call a friend or family member to talk through their frustrations. They were also told that crying does not always indicate that something is wrong. It is a normal part of a child’s development and does cause any physical pain to the child. And most importantly they were reminded never to shake the baby (Bechtel et al,

In time their language and vocabularies will form rapidly. Children often get their gramma in speech mixed up at times, for example when using a verb word such as kicked they are likely to say “kickeded the ball―. When it comes to social, emotional, moral and behavioural challenges babies start to be aware of their identities in regards to what and who they like and dislike. They build an intense and emotional bond with their parents or main carer, which then lengthens out of the family circle, this could include nursery staff or childminders. When a child engages with others outside of the family circle, it promotes the building of trust, which enables the child asking for help from a certain person and forms other social bonds with others, who deliver care to the child.

Sitting in the crook of a cushioned armchair, I watch the smiling faces of infants flash across the screen of my aunt 's TV. I shift my weight to fold into a more comfortable position, only to be met by a cry of protest. I quickly jump up, my maternal switch being flipped, and begin to soothe. I whisper an old lullaby and hold her hands in mine. Once she has calmed down, I rewind to the beginning of the recorded Huggies commercial, as I had done hundreds of times before, and allow my grandmother to laugh and coo at the toothless grins on the television.

Attachment in early life is a fundamental aspect of child development and the establishment of intimate and reciprocal relationships with caregivers. Shaffer & Kipp (2007) define attachment as ‘a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity’. Contrary to the original view of infant attachment as a ‘secondary drive’ of the dependency on caregivers for physiological needs, such as hunger; Bowlby (1969, 1973) proposed that all infants are born with an innate bias to form an attachment to a primary attachment figure to whom they can seek comfort, or a ‘secure base’ during stressful circumstances. It is proposed by Ainsworth (1967) that parental sensitivity is crucial to shaping the security and development of the initial infant-parent attachment relationship, however the phenomenon of attachment requires both infants and caregivers to contribute in the formation of the attachment bond. Ultimately, the quality of attachment in early life shapes both the social and emotional

Responsive Nurturing Care is when the caregiver pays close attention to what the child is signaling and then provides a response that meets the child’s needs. As a result the child will feel comfortable around the caregiver because its need are being met. Also they will continue to communicate with their caregivers and feel secure. The sense of being secured is significant for infants and young children. A secure bond between the infant and caregiver will let the child know and feel like it would always be safe and cared for when they go through emotions.

In Chapter 8, Dr. Ross Greene focuses on understanding when children try to meet expectations, they will encounter the different difficulties at different times (p.111). In infancy, the baby will not use words to convey their ideas. Feeding, sleeping, self-soothing, and development of social abilities are the main expectations. Infants are constantly evolving to reactions and abilities to meet these expectations. After children become toddlers, they have significant progress in the field of communication and movement.

The first year of a child’s life is spent communicating entirely through nonverbal means. Infants use every part of their bodies to convey their wants and needs as their parents and early childhood educators respond to meet them. Examples of this are reflexes, such as opening their mouths when hungry. Also, crying and whole body movements to demonstrate feelings. Another way that is interesting in infant nonverbal communication is allowing infants to play with each other.

Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are all connected in the developmental task of a baby smiling at his or her mother’s touch. Biological processes produce changes in an individual’s physical nature. Cognitive processes bring changes to the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language. Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual’s relationships with other people, changes in emotions and changes in personality. For the baby, the biological process has to do with the physical touch by the mother and the baby’s

A baby is governed only by its drives and only the id is present at this stage. An infant seeks immediate gratification which is achieved through its mouth – feeding, crying, and oral exploration of the world around it. Disturbance of the oral stage may result