This essay will explore what attachment theory is and its implications for the social and emotional world of the child and also highlight one of the government policy that supports positive parent and child relationships. FORMATION OF ATTACHMENT John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a British Psychiatrist who originally highlighted the important of a a child’s attachment relationship. He was influenced by the theory of ethology and the study of imprinting by Lorenze (1935). Used ducklings to prove that attachment was innate and has survival value. Other theorist also emphasis on the reason children are attached to their caregivers.
According to John Bowlby, a British researcher, all these attachments made throughout life can be traced back to the right kind of maternal presence had during the first three years of life, also known as the critical period. Bowlby explains that the relationship with mothers play a crucial role in the behavioural development of a child and can determine the ability to make healthy relationships in the future. With his Monotropic Attachment Theory he explains that attachment is innate. It is a biological need that has evolved for survival. His idea of monotropy suggests, that an infant forms a primary attachment figure, which is one special attachment, usually with the mother.
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.
INTRO Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregivers , this theory provided that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social emotional development of an infant. This is a very crucial stage in occurs in the early infant years this factors relationships with the child and the primary child care giver. In this case the parents and the educator can share the primary role. John Bowlby began researching after he graduated, he believed the attached processed involved the cognitive emotional and social features of attachment. Stating four different style of attachment and how they can all have leading factors as well as long term affects.
One person may be attached to another individual without this relationship being mutual. From this term, stems the universal Attachment Theory. In psychology, this theory originates with the joint work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth which was conducted
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) Attachment theory is based on a emotional and physical attachment that is important to the personal development of a child. The attachment is shown by some behaviors in infants, such as needing closeness with the attachment figure when upset or threatened, the infant uses the figure as secure base that the child can use when in need of security and comfort (Bowlby, 1969).
The paper mainly focuses on the conceptual framework of Attachment theory as well as attachment style of a client with Self-esteem issues that helps in the case formulation and treatment plan in Cognitive Behavioural Theory (CBT). Attachment style can be explained as an emotional connection of one person with another. The aim of this research study is to evaluate an association between attachment theory and cognitive behavioural approaches, explicitly pointing out similarities as well as differences between both. For the research analysis, qualitative research methodology has been selected for which distinctive previous researches, books and journal article resources has been examined as the gathered evidences are based on attachment theory
Attachment Theory Overview of Attachment Theory Attachment theory tries to describe the evolution of personality and behaviour in relationships and it gives a reason for the difference in a person’s emotional and relationship attitudes. In the beginning, it looked at the mechanics of relationships between children and their parents but it has since been expanded to cover the entire life of the human being. Attachment theory includes insights learned from evolutionary theory, ethology, systems theory and developmental psychology. Attachment theory is often described as a psychosocial theory as it explores the human experience which is formed by the interaction between the psychology of the individual and the social environment. It is worth noting that as with many theories on the individual, attachment theory does not try to explain, nor is it able to, cover the entire complexity of human development or interaction.
In her work The Reproduction of Motherhood: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender (1978), Chodorow affirms that the first phase of mother-child duality, during which the mother acts as ‘external ego’ for her children and makes ‘total environmental provision’ for them, must be followed by one in which the child start recognizing the mother as a separate entity to enable the child’s development of self. The acknowledgment of this separateness is made possible by the frustration of expectations of primary love. Chodorow also underlines how the relationship a mother develops with her child changes greatly according to the newborn’s sex. While the detachment from a son is seen as more natural and plain by mothers, because of the different sex that characterises the two parties in the relationship, the bond towards daughters tends to be symbiotic, characterized by feeling of merging and separation. Girls tend to perceive mothers as both different but similar, and they continue fearing identification with the maternal figure.
When we consider parental attitudes, there is a wide variety of attitudes. Two faulty attitudes draw attention. Authoritarian Mother - Father Attitude Parents that show authoritarian attitude, demonstrate high level of supervision while the sensitivity is low. The control belongs to the parents. They demonstrate a strict, repressive demeanor.