What Is Bowlby's Attachment Theory

Mary traveled to Uganda in order to observe these developmental patterns, discovering that babies go through a number of phases in order to form attachments. She also explained that some babies have secure attachments while others have insecure attachments. Mary published this information in her first book. She then traveled to Baltimore and studied 26 middle class families. She observed episodes of close bodily contact, face to face encounters, separation and reunion behaviors, infant cooperation, and disobedience. Mary realized that she was seeing patterns that were similar to Bowlby’s work. She established the premise of the attachment theory, indicating that the baby treated the

Given the pivotal influence a secure attachment has for the child in the long term, Bowlby rightfully

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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). Any caregiver is the attachment figure who provides most care for the infant and is their primary social communication.This can be biological parents or anyone who the infant feels the attachment with. According to Bowlby there are 4 stages in attachment formation: Pre-attachment, attachment-in-the-making, clear-cut

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.

In 1969, John Bowlby made the connection that formed relationships and attachments to caregivers contributes to future development and growth. The attachment theory focuses on relationship association between caregivers and their children. Children who established a foundation with a caregiver despite their biological relation, gain much needed support. Establishing support, encourages a child’s development. The comfort of safety, allows children to feel secure in taking risks (Groman, 2012). Exploring Groman’s article further, on the attachment theory, she states, “it is in our first relationship, usually with our mother, that much of our future well-being is determined (Groman, 2012).” The main point of this article is the importance of consistency

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). Thus, suggesting that caregiver relationships are crucial to children’s psychological and physical survival. As infants are unable to verbalize their thoughts, crying is used as a means of communication and interaction between the infant and caregiver.

One of the main theories in Developmental psychology is the attachment theory that was devised by Bowlby (1969) and was added to in 1973, by Mary Ainsworth. The attachment theory surrounds the bond between a primary care giver and a baby. They believe that attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space. In 1930 Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist in a children’s unit, where he treated many emotionally disturbed children, this lead him to consider the relationship between mother and child and the impact that could have on the child’s development. Bowlby believed that the attachment process was an all or nothing process and that you either were attached or were not attached.

Babies are born with an innate ability to learn and their brain to develop after birth. The neural pathways of a human’s brain are built based on their early experience in the world. A baby’s world is based on how they are treated by people in it therefore if the environment is scary then the baby will be reluctant to explore, as demonstrated n Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The brain and body become wired enough to understand what is safe and what should be feared.

Bowlby suggested that due to the attachment between children and their carers, children suffer loss when they are separated. Bowlby’s study with the ethologist Robert Hinde, inspired the idea that certain attachment behaviours have evolved as a survival mechanism (Bergen, 2008). The core of the theory today is that the quality of close relationships affects personality, emotional and social development not only in childhood but throughout the life of the individual (Howe, 2001). This suggests that attachment theory is effectively a biological, psychological and social theory of human development.

The theory of attachment that was first proposed by John Bowlby (1970) described it as a ‘lasting psychological connectedness between human beings’. He notion that children as young as infant need to develop a secure attachment with their main caregiver. Bowlby’s attachment theories are both psychopathology and normal socio-emotional development. It is based on the idea that the early relationship that develops between the infant and caregiver provides the foundation for later development. Bowlby’s

#3-Examining how death and the losses were addressed within my African American family is openly discussed and always some one’s fault. The experience of my grandmothers death relates to the statistics of the life expectations of African America. According to (Walsh 2004 p. 56) African American woman life expectancy for older adults is 70.2 years and African American men life span is 66.1 according to the national Vital Statistics Report (Volume, 47 NO.28). My grandmother died young I believe she was 59 years old. She had her very first heart attack when she was in 50 years old and she stopped drinking and gave herself to the lord. She was on so many different medications as a child I was not aware of the different medications she was taken.

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

The attachment theory of John Bowlby has had an enduring impact on our understanding of child development. This study of Bowlby’s attachment theory allows us to understand more thoroughly how society and culture in constructing child rearing practices have a profound impact not only on the child but on the entire learning life of that individual. Attachment theory provides us with a lifelong learning project that brings together deep psychological patterns.

One of the most important factors that affect a child 's development is the relationship and attachment of the child with their primary caregiver. John Bowlby studied the development of the child; he was interested in how childhood relationships affected kids as they grew older and became adults. He was also concerned with the relationship of the child and primary caregiver and how they interacted, and the effect this had on later life. Bowlby 's theory established that children’s earliest relationships shaped their later development and characterized their human life, "from the cradle to the grave"(Bowlby, 1998). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their overall person. Bowlby 's attachment theory had vast investigation done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the interactions between mother and child, specifically, the theme of an infant’s investigation of their surroundings and the separation from their mother. This essay will focus on Bowlby’s attachment theory and Mary Ainsworth’s experiments and findings, discussing their views on the development and importance of attachment in early life.