In addition he suggested the idea of monotropy, which is the suggestion that infants tend to direct attachment behaviours towards a single attachment figure, and that there is one special bond and this is typically between a mother and its child. The attachment being two ways is very important, and Bowlby believed that both parties should find satisfaction and enjoyment from the relationship. He suggested that babies are born programmed to behave in ways that will make attachments easier to form, for example they will display behaviour that encourages attention from adults, these include smiling and cooing etc. These are known as social releasers because the point of
Describe and Evaluate One Theory of Attachment and Consider its Significance on Child Rearing Today Bowlby (1951) was influenced by ethological studies that suggested infants were "genetically programmed to form attachments to a single caregiver within a critical time period." The critical time period described is called the "sensitive period," it is a period of time in which something is likely to occur. He suggested that "mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins are for physical health." Bowlby focused on the mother as the attachment figure. Bowlby argued that attachment was an "evolved mechanism;" an innate response that ensured the survival of the child.
There are many factors that can cause this young toddler to become anti-social and very emotional. In this paper I will discuss how the movie relayed social and emotional development in toddlers between the ages one and two years of age. Usually Toddlers first attachment is their parents as during this young time in their lives they have grown to trust their parents and therefore are usually attached to them. One theorist by the name of Bowlby was discussed in the movie and he is known for his attachment theory. He believes that when the child is between the ages of 6-24 months the child has a clear cut attachment.
His conclusions led him to postulate that the distress at separation from the mother was universal in babies. Bowlby characterised this distress as following the pattern of infant protest, followed by despair and ending in eventual detachment. The term 'separation anxiety' was brought about echoing ethological survival techniques in which patterns of actions enable survival of young animals. Such ideas influenced Bowlby in postulating a significant period attachment of one to five years which was imperative historically to biological survival, and if were not in place then emotional and intellectual problems would occur in adulthood. This can be seen as a rigid attitude and has played a large part in influencing childcare decisions through the establishment of a connection between maternal
He proposed a theory of continuation; individuals who are securely attached during infancy develop to be socially and emotionally competent in the future, on the other hand, insecurely attached children have more social and emotional difficulties later on in childhood and adulthood. The reason behind this is because the mother’s behaviour creates an internal working model of relationships that in effect leads the infants to expect the same in later relationships. According to Bowlby, children have an innate determination to become attached to a caregiver because it has long-term benefits as does Imprinting. This is because both attachment and imprinting ensures that a young child/animal stays close to a caregiver who can provide it with food, comfort and protection. In this way, attachment and imprinting are adaptive behaviours.
(Bowlby, 1969) Fonagy et al. (1993) sought to empirically test the validity of Bowlby's idea of internal working models. The results they produced supported the concept of internal working models, demonstrating that mothers who had mental representations of insecure attachments with their own parents tended to be less securely attached to their own children. In accordance with the internal working model hypothesis, Bowlby believed that secure and long term relationships with a caregiver was essential to the infants later development. Therefore, any disruption to the attachment bond before the child reaches two years of age will have negative consequences for the future.
Bowlby claimed that infants need one special attachment relationship that is qualatively different from all others. Lastly, the internal working model which is developed through the monotropic attachment. This model represents the infant’s knowledge about his/her relationship with the primary attachment figure, in other words, the mother. It generates expectations about other relationships, so whatever relationship the mother has formed with their child, whether she is kind and loving, or aggressive and uncaring, the child will develop and have this expectation in mind of all future relationships. For example, Hazan and Shaver (1987) showed that there is a link between early attachment experiences and later romantic relationships.
Sroufe et al (1999) conducted an experiment in which he followed a group of children from the age of 12 months to adolescence. They were observed throughout their childhood by teachers, trained observers and camp counselors at special events arranged for the children. At the end of the
Imprinting of this nature in animals has a clear survival advantage as it keeps them close to their mother who would naturally protect them from predators and increase their chances of survival. Bowlby argued that there is a critical period between the ages of birth and 2.5 years (0-30 months) in which conditions must be right for an attachment to form, and if it does not form in this time then it is not possible to develop thereafter. This idea can be supported by Rutter et al, in which he concluded that Romanian orphans for attachments to adopted parents in their first year of life. Rutter also concluded that older children form attachments more slowly, but are still able to form them. Therefore there is a sensitive period for attachment rather
According to Bowlby (1973) a strong emotional bond between the mother figure and the infant called attachment has the biological origin. He hypothesised that for the baby to survive, it has to for an attachment, it needs to have a secure base, from which it can explore the environment and in times of danger or distress, a base it can return to for comfort and security. Bowlby argued that lack of such a secure base leads to infant developing an extreme distress called by developmental psychologists a 'separation anxiety'. The research by Robertson and Robertson (1989) into parent-child separations when either a primary caregiver or a child becomes hospitalized validates Bowlby's reasoning. This idea of attachment as innate adaptation mechanism is also supported by Harlow's (1958) research on primates into maternal deprivation.