Throughout the set up, the infants were judged on an intensity scale of 1-7 (1 being the lowest and 7 the highest) which described their behaviour. This was Ainsworth’s quantitative data, though some of the method was qualitative. When the mother left the room and returned, with the effect of the stranger, the infants’ behaviour showed that the infants could fall into 3 types of behaviour. Type B is ‘secure attachment’; this is when the infants found it stressful and unsettling when their mother left the room. They did not care about the stranger attempting to give the comfort.
In this paper Bowlby's theory of attachment and child care will be outlined along with additions from other theorists such as Rutter and Ainsworth. From this we will see how the evolution of the family unit since 1950s has been affected by such theories along with welfare policy and social theorists which have influenced family life and child care practices in the UK. Bowlby described attachment as the bond that develops between a baby and its primary caregiver. It is characterised by the interaction patterns which develop in order to fulfil the infants' needs and emotional development. Bowlby noted the apparent distress in children separated from their mothers in unusual circumstances e.g.
Approximately 22% of infants were ‘insecure-avoidant’. This is when they ignored their mother and didn’t mind if she left the room as they were comfortable with the stranger comforting them. 66% were ‘securely attached’ which meant that they were happy with their mother being there, upset when she left and excited when she returned. Securely attached children also tried to avoid strangers. The final 12% were ‘insecure-resistant’.
Describe and evaluate Ainsworth's work on attachment (12 marks) In 1978 Ainsworth et al studied the reactions of young children to brief separations from their mother in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviours and types of attachments Ainsworth’s procedure is known as the strange situation. In the study she conducted she use controlled observation infants were exposed to a sequence of 3 minute-episodes. The total observation period lasted for approximately 25 minutes. First the infant and mother were introduced to the observation room by the researcher, then the researcher left the room. After a while a stranger entered and had a brief conversation with the mother.
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.
John Bowlby’s theory of Attachment John Bowlby is an evolutionary psychologist within the filed of developmental psychology. His theory provides an evolutionary perspective towards attachment combining Freud’s views on the importance of the maternal care (psychoanalytic approach) and the ethnologists’ views on imprinting. Bowlby’s theory suggested that attachment is an innate and adaptive process. An infant is genetically programmed in a way for survival and has been ascribed skills such as sucking, grasping, crying: known as “social releasers”. Bowlby believed that a mother has similar genetic coding that allows her to react instinctive to, and respond to her infants needs.
The observers recorded the following behaviours: * Exploration - how willingly the infant explored the room using the mother as a safe base. * Stranger anxiety - how distressed the infant became toward the stranger, both with the mother present and when alone. * Separation distress - how distressed the infant became when the mother left the room. * Reunion behaviour - how the mother was greeted by the infant on her return to the room. Types of attachment The original strange situation study (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970) revealed 3 main attachment types: * Securely attached (Type B).
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.
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.
A bond that joins them together and withstands the test of time”. (Ainsworth, 1969) What is attachment and how does its many manifestations affect the well-being and psychological development of a child? Psychological evaluation of a child’s development is key to understanding the influence attachment may have and it is important to examine its many faces; from deprivation to separation. There have been many studies that investigate the role paternal deprivation plays and how it impact’s a child’s ability to create and maintain relationships and to become well-adjusted and developed as they grow older. In 1946 Spitz and Wolf undertook such a project, studying children in orphanages who had not formed attachments with a care giver or their parents before they entered the institution.