Babies have social releaser which unlocks the innate tendency for adults to care for them; these are both physical and behavioural social releasers. Bowlby adopted the idea of a critical period from ethologists like Lorenz, and applied this to his explanation of how human infants form their attachments. Bowlby has several claims. The first being that we have evolved a biological need to attach to our main caregiver, this being the monotropy attachment. Forming this attachment has survival values, as staying close to the mother ensure food and protection.
Bowlby argued that the attachment behaviours in both caregivers and babies evolved ensuring the survival of the baby until maturity and reproduce. Babies produce instincts like crying and smiling which encourages the caregiver to look after it. Parents especial mothers as per to Bowlby have instincts to protect their baby from harm and nurture them ensuring their survival until maturity. Those babies and mother who don’t possess these behaviours have been less successful. A second most important concept in Bowlby’s theory was the idea of monotrophy a single attachment to one person who is most important to the baby.
N.b. controls: individuals referred to clinic because of emotional problems, but not yet committed any crimes. He interviewed the parents from both groups to state whether their children had experienced separation during the critical period and for how long. [pic]Findings: More than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than six months during their first five years. In the control group only two had had such a separation.
His report was influenced by Lorenz’s (1935) ethological studies of imprinting and his subsequent theory that attachment was innate. He also considered the findings of R, A, Spitz (1945) who found that bereaved children who lost a parent suffered from deep depression and slow development. He added some studies of his own the most prominent being his study on juvenile delinquency. He studied two groups of disturbed teenagers. One group consisted of forty-four juveniles who were guilty of past theft and another group of forty-four who were not.
Bowlby begun to explore this. Bowlby (as cited in Oates, 2005) was inspired by this previous ethological work and was interested in linking such findings with human development (Oates, 2005). Bowlby’s focus was children’s attachment during the critical period and the effect it has on later development. Bowlby was influenced by work of Winnicot. Winnicot’s (1953) work on mothers and infants demonstrated the important for mothers to be emotionally ready to be a ‘good enough mother’ by having tolerance of waiting out a child’s frustration and the confidence in providing satisfaction (Oates, 2005).
Bowlby put forward a theory of attachment based upon the assumption that attachments are formed due to their evolutionary advantages. The theory states that attachments are adaptive and become attached because of the long term benefits such as feeding and protection from a caregiver. It also states that infants have social releasers which are physical and behavioural characteristics that elicit an innate tendency to look after, such as smiling or crying. The attachment is a monotropic attachment to the mother which occurs within the critical period, which is from birth to two and a half years of age. This attachment helps the infant to form an internal working model which is a schema for all future relationships.
‘The time is ripe for a unification of Psychoanalytical concepts with those of Ethology’ J Bowlby 1953 Bowlby’s theory begins with the idea that we are all born with innate drives, this comes from the Darwinist theory that all characteristics have survival value, Bowlby would consider attachment to be one of these characteristics. Part of these innate drives is the idea that we are all born with social releasers, Social releasers promote attachment between the child and it’s primary care giver (P.C.G). A releaser such as crying elicits care giving from others nearby. The person who responds most sensitively to the child’s releasers will become the P.C.G. The relationship between child and P.C.G becomes the most important in the child’s life.
John Bowlby adopted the family systems approach theory in relation to his attachment theory. Bowlby’s theories focused more on attachment styles whereas Bowen’s theory was centered specifically on the family as an organization. Bowlby theorized that children have the most successful development within an extended family system. He also believed that the child’s interactions with their caregivers within the first few years of their lives shaped their views of themselves and interactions with others (Blewitt & Broderick, 2015, p. 117). Bowlby in particular believed that the family system was important for a child’s growth and development.
Whilst early theories pertaining to maternal interaction and deprivation can be found in the works of Sigmund Freud, Rene Spitz and Harry Harlow, Attachment Psychologist John Bowlby is largely regarded as the pioneer in the field (Peterson, 2004). Bowlby believed attachment to be an innate adaptive method applied by the child in an attempt to meet primary survival needs (i.e. food, shelter, mental stimulation). In order to secure these primary needs, newborn infants will attempt to form secure attachments to primary caregivers. If secured the child will receive ample attention and have basic needs met.
Each offense was categorized according to the family unit (e.g., intact, father only, mother only, etc. ), offense type (e.g., underage consumption, petit larceny, breaking and entering, etc. ), offense level (e.g., status misdemeanor, and felony), the victim (e.g., crimes against the person, crimes against property, etc.) and the juvenile’s age at the time the alleged offense occurred. This study examined whether a child living in a non-intact (broken) household is more susceptible to becoming a delinquent youth.