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Theories Of Childhood Development

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Childhood development is defined as the psychical, emotional, social and cognitive development of the child from the moment of birth till the entrance of adulthood. This process includes the four different stages, infant at an age between 0-2 years, toddler at an age between 2-6 years, child at an age between 6-12 years, and adolescent at an age between 12-18 years. Additionally, John Bowlby argues it is the two first stages, infant and toddler, of life that influences the most upon the social relationships in the future. At these stages, the need for a caring, responsive and interested caregiver is essential (Cherry, 2016a). Attachment is defined as being the very deep emotional bond between the individual and their attachment figure that …show more content…

The theory is essential within the psychological research of childhood development and adult love relationships, because it provides an explanation of how the child will attach to the caregiver, and how this attachment will continue throughout life and adult love relationships (McLeod, 2009). According to Bowlby, the four main characteristics of attachment are Safe Haven, which is the ability to rely on caregiver for comfort and safety, Secure Base, which is the action of the caregiver who will create security for the infant, Proximity Maintenance, which is the infant’s desire to be close to the caregiver, and Separation Distress, which is the infant feeling distressed when the caregiver is not present (Cherry, …show more content…

During childhood, the internal working model is established when the child creates expectations for the experiences with the attachment figure. Afterwards, these mental representations or the internal working model will more or less stay unchanged throughout the rest of the child’s life, and will establish the expectations for adult love relationships. Therefore, it was theorized that if the child felt that the attachment figure was attentive towards the child’s needs specially during infancy, the child will likely feel secure and loved due to the secure attachment pattern, and the child as an adult is likely to end in a trustworthy, happy and secure love relationship. Whereas, if the child felt that the attachment figure was not responsive towards the child 's needs, the child will likely feel insecure and unloved causing an avoidant attachment pattern, and the child as an adult is likely to end up in an emotional imbalanced, untrustworthy and insecure love relationship (Bowlby, Ainsworth & Bretherton,

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