He also described social releasers; sucking, smiling, crying and cuddling. Bowlby states that these social releasers are innate behaviours which ensure proximity and contact with the baby's attachment figure. However, research has shown that multiple attachments may be more common than monotropy, contradicting Bowlby. Many psychologists have supported Bowlby; Hazan and Shaver (1987) aimed to discover if love in adulthood is directly related to attachment type as a child. They interviewed respondents to an advertisement and asked them to pick a statement best describing
Attachment is a special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure. The roots of research on attachment began with Freud's theories about love, but another researcher is usually credited as the father of attachment theory. John Bowlby devoted extensive research to the concept of attachment, describing it as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings" (Bowlby, 1969, p. 194). Bowlby shared the psychoanalytic view that early experiences in childhood have an important influence on development and behaviour later in life. Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver relationship.
Diana Baumrind on Parenting Diana Baumrind was an American clinical and developmental psychologist whose studies centered on parenting styles and their effect on children. I found her theories particularly interesting because I have seen the effects of my own parents’ choices of parenting as compared to those of our friends and family. I have seen her theories proven time and again so it does not surprise me that psychologists have embraced her theories more than they have been rejected them. Baumrind focused on two important but variable qualities in parents: their responsiveness (individuality and self-regulation,) and their demandingness (disciplinary actions and confrontation.) Using these two variables she named three distinct parenting styles being Authoritarian, Permissive and Authoritative.
John Bowlby (1907-1990) introduced modern day psychology to the importance of mother-infant relationships and their dynamics. Bowlby was trained as a psychoanalyst and studied a myriad of concepts from ethology, cybernetics, developmental psychology and cognition all leading him to the formulation of his attachment theory. This theory was sparked from Bowlby’s report on the mental health of homeless children in postwar Europe. Bowlby extensively reviewed then-current material on institutionalized children separated from parents and concluded that in order for a mentally healthy adulthood, “ the infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment” (Bowlby, 1969). With this information, Bowlby realized that the current explanation from Freud that infants love their mother because of oral gratification was wrong.
One similarity is that they both agreed that infants are born with the tools and abilities for intellectual development. They also both agreed that egocentric speech was an important part of cognitive development. But then Piaget focuses on the motor reflexes and sensory abilities, while Vygotsky focuses on attention, sensation, perception, and memory. One big difference in their ideas is that Piaget believed development came before learning, while Vygotsky (1978) stated, “Learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychology function.” Just that difference would make a big difference in their theories all together. Another huge difference is that Vygotsky believed in culture and surrounding environment affects cognitive development.
Attachment theory, as postulated by John Bowlby, sought to achieve just that. Bowlby's aim was to discover the consequences of difficulties in forming attachments in childhood, and the effects this would have on an infant's later development. Drawing on much work in the psychoanalytic literature, such as that of Freud and Harlow, Bowlby formulated the idea that infants develop a close emotional bond with an attachment figure early in life, and that the success or failure of this earliest of relationships lead the infant to form a mental representation that would have profound effects on their later relationships and their own success as a parent. A concept that Bowlby referred to as an internal working model. (Bowlby, 1969) Fonagy et al.
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.
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
The child’s first bond, called attachment, is an enduring emotional tie that unites the child to one or more caregivers and has a far- reaching effects on the child’s development. Attachment is an emotional bond to another person. Psychologist John Bowlby was the first attachment theorist, describing attachment as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.” Bowlby believed the earliest attachments between children and their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. According to Bowlby, attachment also serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the chances for survival. The central idea of attachment theory is that mothers who are available and responsive to their infant’s needs establish a sense for security.
First, the formulation of Bowlby's theory will be explained. This will be followed by a presentation of research which enabled the discovery of different forms of attachment. Also factors influencing infant's internal working model such as parental sensitivity and association between early attachment, and later development as well as the concept of transmission of attachment will be discussed. Moreover changes to original theory in light of this research will be examined. According to Bowlby (1973) a strong emotional bond between the mother figure and the infant called attachment has the biological origin.