Kangaroo Care offers a way for parents to have contact and interaction with their infant that is beneficial to mom, dad, and baby. It is encouraged for them to do skin to skin contact or Kangaroo Care as soon as the baby can tolerate it. This may aid in the infant survival and shorten the NICU stay. 2. Thesis: Research suggests that Kangaroo Care is beneficial for premature infants because it promotes bonding with parents and normalizes vital signs.
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.
Attachment can form at any age but early attachments are formed through being sociable from birth, this happens through interactions with people from the moment they are born. An example of a social interaction that can later contribute to the child forming a bond is face recognition. This is being able to recognise familiar faces and therefore can be the start of a bond. If early attachment is made with another person, for example this may be the main carer, then the child is likely to go on to strengthen that bond until firm attachments are made. Attachment allows the child to learn trust and feel secure with the person they are bonding with, this is important in how they form relationships with others.
A number of studies have shown that adults are less likely to mate with individuals whom they were raised with. This shows that imprinting (or early attachment) is for the purpose of the infant to bond with its mother to make sure they sustain a short-term bond which is important for survival. So the infant can reproduce I the future, which is what evolution, is all about. If attachment did evolve, like Bowlby suggests (biological function), then we would expect attachment and caregiving behaviours to be universal. So there would be no cultural bias.
and Q: Describe and Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment (12): Bowlby’s theory consists of five different areas. First of all, there is ‘adaptive’. Bowlby believed that all attachments are adaptive and that it is an advantage in order to survive. This action promotes survival because it ensures safety and food for offspring, and individuals who are attached are more likely to survive and go on to reproduce. Secondly, he suggests that infants are born with innate social releasers, such as crying and smiling, and that they also have cute faces to elicit care-giving.
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.
‘Bowlby’s Evolutionary Theory of Attachment Suggest that Babies are Biologically Pre-Programmed to form Attachments with the Primary Caregiver as a Survival Mechanism’. Discuss this statement in relation to research into attachment. Bowlby described attachment as being a “…lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.” Bowlby’s Attachment theory focuses on the ‘connectedness’ between infants and their primary caregivers i.e. their mothers, He states that this connection is an innate process which evolved as a survival mechanism to protect the infants and ensure that genes could be passed on. 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 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
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.
Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver relationship. In addition to this, Bowlby believed that attachment had an evolutionary component; it aids in survival. "The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component of human nature" (Bowlby, 1988, 3). Characteristics of Attachment Bowlby believed that there are four distinguishing characteristics of attachment: Proximity Maintenance - The desire to be near the people we are attached to. Safe Haven - Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat.