Evaluate John Bowlby's Theory Of Attachment

In Psychology, attachment can be defined as an extraordinary emotional bond between an infant and the primary care giver. This relationship is vital for a child as it forms the basis for normal emotional, social and behavioural development. This phenomenon can be observed in many mammalian species suggesting that it may serve an important evolutionary function.

The theory dates to 1958 and was first developed by the British psychoanalyst John Bowlby who worked with many emotionally disturbed children in a Child Guidance Clinic. Bowlby was looking into the reasons as to why so many of these children were experiencing such intense emotional trauma. He realised that many of them had gone through very traumatic experiences resulting in them being separated from their mothers permanently. Even when new caregivers were assigned to these children this still didn’t seem to improve the children’s anxiety and intense distress. This lead Bowlby to study the link between infants being separated from their mothers and the emotional trauma experienced by these children, this led to the

These children are confident that their mother will provide comfort and security in times of need. In Ambivalent attachment, the child becomes extremely distressed once the mother leaves, upon her return the child is very difficult to comfort and is often seen “clinging” onto the mother and refusing to return to play. These children are usually subject to unpredictable care by the mother and cannot depend on her when the child is in need. Avoidant attachment is where the child shows no distress when the mother leaves and often show no preference between the mother and a complete stranger. This is usually a result of abusive and neglectful