With this information, Bowlby realized that the current explanation from Freud that infants love their mother because of oral gratification was wrong. His new theory stated that infants are social from a very young age, 6 months to less than two years old. The infants become focused on a particular individual or a few individuals. Bowlby proposed that “patterns of relating acquired in the early parent-child relationship are internalized and form the basis for how an individual enters and subsequently maintains other close relationships” (Bretherton). 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.
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
During this phase the infant uses instinctive signals such as; grasping, smiling and crying to get the attention of those around them. • In phase two, “the attachment in the making phase”, the infant begins to act differently to familiar and unfamiliar individuals. This phase occurs from 6 weeks until approximately 6-8 months of age. During this phase infants develop a sense that their actions elicit a reaction from their caregiver and begin to expect responses from their caregiver. Though they begin to trust in these reactions, they still are not officially attached.
Some of the children remained at the institution while others had left and had to be either adopted or restored to their original families. Restored children were less likely to form attachments but adopted children were attached like normal children. However, both groups of ex institutionalised children had problems with peers. These findings suggest that early privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good emotional care. This supports Bowlby's theory of sensitive period.
According to Bowlby (1973), a child’s attachment pattern forms in relationship to the primary caregiver and is usually generalized to subsequent relationships. Individuals at significant risk for developing maladaptive attachment relationships are children who are abused or neglected by their caregiver. Early disruptions in the attachment relationship thwart the child’s ability to regulate arousal, develop secure relationships, and cope with stress. Not able to use caregivers as a secure base for exploration, children
(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.
Outline and evaluate into the effects of disruption of attachments? Bowlby, Robertson and Robertson had created a theory which consisted of studying young children who had been separated from their attachment figure. They had found that the child separated from their attachment showed the following behaviours: * Protest (stage 1) the child would protest at the behaviour E.g. Crying, Distress and Anger * Despair (stage 2) the child would seem to forget about the attachment and start to adjust this can be shown as their level of behaviour changes (their level of crying or anger would decrease) * Detachment (stage 3) at this stage the child would seem to be coping although they would be emotionally responsive as they would reject their caregiver when they were to return. Most children do recover from this.
The bond between a caregiver and their infant is crucial for the infant’s survival and psychological development. John Bowlby, an English Psychiatrist proposed his view on attachments, he studied emotionally disturbed children, most of these children had been separated from their families at an early age which led him to develop his theory on ‘maternal deprivation hypothesis’ in which he suggested that a child should experience a caring, warm and intimate relationship with their mother, and that children deprived of that relationship may suffer from emotion- maladjustment. Bowlby also believed that attachment is innate; he proposed that children are innately attached to the caregiver as it produces a long term benefit that helps the infant survive but also enabling them to reproduce. Bowlby also indicated that there is a crucial time in an infant’s life in where the attachment between caregiver is critical; this is called the sensitivity period, this is between 6- 24 months, (http://social.jrank.org/pages/168/Critical-Sensitive-Periods-Infant-Parent-Attachment-Critical-Sensitive-Period-Social-Development.html ) after this period if no attachment is formed it will be very hard for the child to gain an attachment after, it may take longer to form
Early studies found that 70% were unable to show feelings towards anyone. The children were assessed regularly and some of the children had even left due to adoption or they had been reunited with their families. Hodges and Tizard found that the children who had been reunited with their families were less likely to form attachments with their mothers; however the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents as ‘normal’ children. On the other hand, both groups did have problems with peers as they struggled to make secure friendships. This shows that privation had an effect on the children and had affected their ability to form attachments.
Bowlby’s attachment theory was heavily influenced by Darwin’s survival of the fittest as well as animal studies such as Lorenz’s geese study. In this study, Lorenz found that geese would attach to the first thing they saw moving once they hatched, this included a watering can. Lorenz coined the term ‘imprinting’ to describe this phenomenon. He believed that there was a critical period in which this had to happen (5 to 24 hours) or an attachment would never be made. Bowlby built on this idea and believed that humans also have a critical period for attachment.