Ainsworth Attachment Theory

With research, it has become apparent that there is a correspondence between mothers and children on the basis that attachment. Attachment depends on the reaction from mothers to her child’s emotional cues. (Feldman, 2012, Chapter

1-Which of the following theories suggests that the mother becomes an attachment object because she reduces the baby’s primary drive of hunger: a) Psychoanalytic Theory b) Cognitive Developmental Theory c) Learning Theory d) Ethological Theory 2-One of the phases in early development of attachment, Attachment in the making, occurs during the ages: a) 7-24 months of age b) 0-2 months of age c) 24 months on d) 2-7 months of age 3-Which of the following refers to separation protest, wariness of strangers, and intentional communication: a) Preattachment b) Attachment in the making c) Clear-cut attachment d) Goal-corrected partnership 4-Which of the following classifications indicates a child who actively avoids and ignores parent on reunion with

Attachment is a crucial part of a babies first year of life, Mary Ainsworth investigated weather the quality of attachment matters to a child's well being and also if some attachments are better than others. Ainsworth carried out her experiment which is known as "strange situation" The aim of this was to test how strong attachments were. During the experiment Ainsworth focused on the babies reactions during each part these included Parent and baby in a room, baby free to explore room whilst parent remains inactive, stranger joins parent and baby, Parent leaves room, Parent returns settles baby and stranger leaves, Baby is alone in the room, Stranger returns and interacts with the baby, Parent returns to the room and stranger leaves. During

The overall mean of the infant attachment styles percentages calculated by Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg for their meta-analysis corroborated with Ainsworth’s results. However, the results obtained by Takahashi, who performed experiments on Japanese infants deviated from Ainsworth’s results despite the fact that both experimenters asked middle-class families with 12 to 18-month-old infants to participate with the only difference being their cultures, the independent variable. As an explanation, Durrett, Otaki, and Richards pointed out that according to Japanese cultural norm, infants and their mother would rarely separate, which resulted in the removal of the “infant-alone” stage in 90% of the trials. When they attempted the Procedure again with modern Japanese families where mothers leave their infants at home for work, the outcomes supported Ainsworth’s

Throughout the field of psychology we have learned the results of each psychological experiment and their results, which played an important role in the field. One significant study that changed our perspective about attachment was the Harlow’s Monkeys Experiment (1958) where Harlow wanted to study the mechanism between the newborn monkeys and their mothers, who they would be, analyze of how their bond is created. According to McLeod (2015) from the simply psychology website, the author says, “The behavioral theory of attachment would suggest that an infant would form an attachment with a carer that provides food. In contrast Harlow’s explanation was that attachment develops as a result of the mother providing “tactile comfort”, suggesting

This test observed patterns in the infants’ experiences of separation and reunion with their mother, and their reaction to a stranger, in order to evaluate the type of attachment relationship the infant shared with their mother (Ainsworth, 1978). Ainsworth found a significant consistency between the mothers’ interactive styles and the reactions of the infants. The results of this test led Ainsworth to classify the behaviours into three main categories. She identified the infants to have secure attachment, or one of two forms of insecure attachment, avoidant or ambivalent (Music,

Although we are studying theories, some of them appear to explain human behavior and personality with certain accuracy. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth theories of attachment can also explain what happens to people when attachment to their parents or caregivers is healthy or potential problems that could occur due to detachments. They suggest that individuals raised with secure attachments to their primary caregivers help them to feel secure; moreover, these children appear to be more socially skilled and less likely to experience major emotional disturbances. However, failure to form healthy attachments, especially mother-child, could serve as a descriptive mechanism for many negative psychological outcomes later in the life of an individual,

Theories, Key Concepts, Principles, and Assumptions Two theories that will be discussed in this paper is Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development and John Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment. Erikson’s theory is considered psychosocial, emphasizing the importance of social and cultural factors within a lifespan, from infancy to later adulthood. Erikson’s theory is broken down into eight consecutive age-defined stages. During each stage, a person experiences a psychosocial crisis that contributes to their personality development.

Theories (Erikson & Attachment) According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, trust vs. mistrust, occurs in the first year of life. Erikson believed that the caregiver’s response to the infant’s cries help them develop a sense of trust, when the caregiver responds right away to the infant’s distress of crying or fussing (Mooney, 2000). Erikson believed that in the earliest years of life, mainly during infancy, patterns of trust or mistrust are formed that control, or at least influence, a person’s actions or interactions for the rest of life (Erikson, 1950). Bowlby hypothesized that children are born with a predisposition to be attached to caregivers and that children will organize their behavior and thinking in order to maintain those relationships (Bettmann, 2006).

It was an experiment used to observe the different attachment styles shown by mothers and infants. Adults do not need a test because they can easily be interviewed, they are able to say what they feel or what they experienced. Infants are not able to do this, thus an experiment was conducted. 100 middle class American families were part of the experiment. The infants in the experiment were 12 to 18 months old.

According to Mary Ainsworth's’ theory of attachment, I believe that as Wilbur’s primary caregiver, Fern is the mother Wilbur never had that he has developed a secure attachment with. “Every morning after breakfast, Wilbur walked out to the road with Fern and waited with her till the bus came. She would wave good-bye to him, and he would stand and watch the bus until it vanished around a turn. While Fern was in school, Wilbur was shut up inside his yard. But as soon as she got home in the afternoon, she would take him out and he would follow her around the place” (White, Chapter 1, Page 10).

Both Robert Karen’s Becoming Attached and Robert LeVine and Karin Norman’s The Infant 's Acquisition of Culture: Early Attachment Re-Examined in Anthropological Perspective delve into the complicated relation between toddlers and their caregivers, and just how uncertain it is whether or not a certain form attachment is truly the best for children. Toddlerhood is centered on the sudden recognition of autonomy as well as exploring their world with the help of their caregiver. Thus this goes into the idea of attachment, and the various forms that come along with it. Robert Karen explores these attachment relationships using the results of experiments such as the Strange Situation done by Mary Ainsworth and Harry Harlow’s research with monkeys.

Since the ‘50s, Bowlby worked alone and with distinguished colleagues such as psychoanalyst James Robertson, ethologist/zoologist Robert Hinde and psychologist Mary Ainsworth on several different studies. Bowlby suggested that due to the attachment between children and their carers, children suffer loss when they are separated. Bowlby’s study with the ethologist Robert Hinde, inspired the idea that certain attachment behaviours have evolved as a survival mechanism (Bergen, 2008). The core of the theory today is that the quality of close relationships affects personality, emotional and social development not only in childhood but throughout the life of the individual (Howe, 2001). This suggests that attachment theory is effectively a biological, psychological and social theory of human development.

Babies are born with an innate ability to learn and their brain to develop after birth. The neural pathways of a human’s brain are built based on their early experience in the world. A baby’s world is based on how they are treated by people in it therefore if the environment is scary then the baby will be reluctant to explore, as demonstrated n Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The brain and body become wired enough to understand what is safe and what should be feared. The birth to 3 years of a child’s life is a critical period for the brain during child development and any deprivation during this will result in persistent deficits in cognitive, emotional and even physical health.

Attachment in early life is a fundamental aspect of child development and the establishment of intimate and reciprocal relationships with caregivers. Shaffer & Kipp (2007) define attachment as ‘a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity’. Contrary to the original view of infant attachment as a ‘secondary drive’ of the dependency on caregivers for physiological needs, such as hunger; Bowlby (1969, 1973) proposed that all infants are born with an innate bias to form an attachment to a primary attachment figure to whom they can seek comfort, or a ‘secure base’ during stressful circumstances. It is proposed by Ainsworth (1967) that parental sensitivity is crucial to shaping the security and development of the initial infant-parent attachment relationship, however the phenomenon of attachment requires both infants and caregivers to contribute in the formation of the attachment bond. Ultimately, the quality of attachment in early life shapes both the social and emotional