The attachment theory, better known as Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, is best represented as the Bowlby/Ainsworth theory. Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby both worked on the attachment theory. The attachment theory focuses on the characteristics of attachment as well as the attachment styles. Attachment deals with the deep emotional connection from one person to another. Children, as well as adults, experience many different types of attachment. In the attachment theory, it’s discussed that attachment is crucial to a child’s development. From the moment we are born our relationships with others and our attachment towards them affects growth and positive functioning.
The environment and level of attachment can also affect growth as well as negative functioning. This paper will discuss one of the most famous studies that were conducted by Harlow and Zimmerman where they separated baby monkeys from their mothers and replaced them with surrogate mothers. As well as the impact of higher vs. lower attachment scores on children in relation to the Strange Situation Procedure. The role of attachment and the brain is affected is another important study regarding the attachment theory
. The relationships between these theories help researchers such as Bowlby and Ainsworth understand how everyone is affected by attachment. Bowlby started his research two years before Ainsworth came into the picture. His associate at the time, James Roberson, observed children who were in the hospital away from their parents. Their conclusions on the observation show that a lack of attachment and strange environment will ultimately affect the development of the child and his ability to interact with others as he gets older.
127 our experts are availableright now
Once Ainsworth came on board in the late 1950s she analyzed Roberson’s works and was very impressed and started a study of her own on the subject. Ainsworth is best known for her research on the Strange Situation Procedure. Bowlby’s first five papers on attachment theory are the foundation of the entire theory.
These papers, two of them were never published, discuss the most important parts of the attachment theory dealing with how a child’s attachment to their mother affects their development, the analysis of separation, and dealing with death as a small child. When children must deal with separation, whether that’s from abandonment or loss of a parent, they seem to suffer when it comes to educational development as well as their ability to attach to others and make meaningful relationships. When a mother takes care of a child she provides him with food, safety, and a warm place to live. When a child is taken from this their ability to regain attachment to others struggles. This research shows how important attachment to other is from the very beginning of life and how it affects us throughout life as well.
This also affects positive vs. negative functioning. The study done by Harlow and Zimmerman they replace baby monkey’s mothers with an artificial mother, a terrifying puppet if you ask me, to test their reactions. The monkeys responded well with the puppet because it provided food for the baby monkey even if the puppet wasn’t acting motherly. The need to survive overcomes another need such as love if the monkey is getting food they continue to attach to the puppet. this experiment is used to understand how relationships work with infants and what their attachment is based on.
This leads into Ainsworth’s studies in relation to the Strange Situation Procedure, this was designed to see the relationship between a child and the ones taking care of them. These tests were done on infants to test different reactions to being around their caregiver and others, being around just the caregiver, the infant being left alone, and being around just the testers, better known to the infants as strangers. This resulted in a few different types of behaviors such as separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, and reuniting with the caregiver. Therefore, children are affected by who they interact with and who they are and aren’t attached to or even known to.
The stages of attachment start at just 0-6 weeks called the asocial stage in which infants are first starting to respond to stimuli and their caregivers. Stage 2, the indiscriminate attachment stage (from 6 weeks to 7 months) deals with babies starting to respond to the caregiver and start to form bonds, infants love seeing familiar faces and can get scared when new people try to interact with them.
Stage 3 goes from about 7 to 9 months, called the specific attachment stage, refers to the baby finding preference in the caregiver they see the most and the one who gives them the most attention. Babies feels safe around their caregiver and ca also feel fear and sadness when away from them, some babies are different than others and don’t have much fear of strangers. The last stage, the multiple attachment stage goes from 10 months and on. This is when you start to notice independence and babies can form multiple attachments.
The attachment and interaction deviates from just a few people to anyone providing them with positive stimuli and responses. Some babies respond quicker than babies who experience more fear and possible shyness. These stages can easily relate to the attachment theories which deal will attachment by classical conditioning. The basis of this theory is broken into two, learning and behaviorist theory of attachment. Focusing on the idea that an infant will attach themselves to whoever gives it food. This is how infants learn who their mother is and find comfort in them. Infants are programmed to form attachments with others to survive. This stage of life in very important to the child’s development and their intelligence from about 0-5 years. Going back to Harlow’s studies we find his practices were the most ethical and were found to be cruel to the animals involved. They subjected the baby monkeys to isolation and unfair conditions.
Some say it’s justified because of all the information we now have and may not have gotten without this experiment. I agree the information we have is very important to how we understand attachment and behavior, however, I don’t find any kind of animal abuse fully justified. I do apricate the information and are ability to better understand the needs of infants. Literature Review From the History of Psychology, the article about Mary Ainsworth, it discusses her role on the attachment theory and touches on the fact she’s hardly mentioned when it comes to articles and researchers teaching and discussing the theory. She provided some of the best proof on the theory.
Ainsworth’s studies on the Strange Situation Procedure and its classification system helped support many of the theories original findings. More articles and papers need to mention Ainsworth and her contributions to the attachment theory. In The Psychologist-Manager Journal it addresses the studies on the attachment style and fellowship theories. It builds on the information given by Bowlby and how present day relates to the attachment theory. The theories from Bowlby are tested and are shown to be true to the original findings as well as new information on the theory. The Current Opinion in Psychology is an article that explains the developmental approach connected with Bowlby’s theory of childhood attachment. It mostly discusses the differences between infant and adult attachment and how it affects the bond from infant to adult.
The Attachment & Human Development is all about reflecting on Bowlby’s work. The biggest focus is on the development theory. The idea that we can continue to research and find out more on attachment and development even over 100 years later. That’s something that Bowlby, Ainsworth, and everyone who contributed to the theory should be proud of. As well as a better understanding of the terminology and how they theories affect the world today. Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology is an interesting paper on the maltreatment of children and how it affects them in the future. This maltreatment can cause psychological, mental, and physical risks to the children. It’s important that Bowlby’s research shows how maltreatment affects children’s growth and ability to attach to others. The role of attachment is the most important to understand when it comes to development and now we have more information than ever on the topic.
In conclusion, Bowlby, Ainsworth, and their team has contributed a massive amount of information and proof to helping people better understand the benefits to understanding a child’s development and how it’s effected from the day they are born. There were so many people who worked on these theories over the years that haven’t been mentioned because of the vast amount of information and help that went towards these theories. Ainsworth really did a lot of the ground work, along with Bowlby, that brought the foundation of these theories to the public eye and showed the significance this research has for everyone, whether you have a child or ever were a child, can benefit from this research and provide the proper care for any infant and child as well. Before all this information some people had no idea how drastic the development of children is based on their attachments and survival senses.
Separation or death can drastically impact a child’s development as well. This is where this information holds most it’s weight. Keeping infants and children away from the people they trust and need to survive can negatively affect their ability to grow and understand the world as they get older. They can become untrustworthy and even lack the skills to function with other if taken away from all forms of attachment.
Therefore, I believe that Harlow’s Monkey Studies were beneficial to society because of all the information we now know from testing on monkeys. With this we can see how interaction and attachment are programmed and how the brain works to survive and feel some form of comfort. I, of course, will never fully accept the animal abuse that very clearly happened as a good way to obtain information. Although, I’m not sure we would be able to obtain the same information without this study.
The study in no way needs to be recreated because I believe the researchers obtained the information they needed. We now better understand how caregivers and infants interact and how we can provide the best environment for growth and positive functioning. This allows for parents and caregivers to help their baby develop and connect with others throughout their lives. Ainsworth also taught us how different interactions with caregivers and strangers affect children as well.
This study shows the children’s interactions and how they find comfort in their caregivers because they rely on them for safety and food. Without the issue of these procedure we may not know the full extent to which children react to seeing strangers verses their caregivers and how infants who connect to their caregivers can feel fear and loneliness when away from them. After reviewing all the literature for this paper, it’s easy to see the abundance of information we now have on the attachment theory. From the different styles of attachment as well as the many attachment theories that contribute to the foundation of children’s attachment theory.
