This essay will describe and evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment and maternal deprivation hypothesis. The essay will describe the two theories, weighing up the strengths and the weaknesses. It will include supporting research by Shaffer and Emerson, Ainsworth and Harlow, along with criticisms by Rutter.…
Reflecting on Mahler’s terminology of separation- individuation, and Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment style regarding child development process, it easy for someone to suspect that two different things are being discussed however; one can hypothesize that Mahler is stating that separation is necessary for individuation while Bowlby and Ainsworth attachment theory, stresses, that individuation occurs optimally, within the framework of secure attachment (Goldstein, 1995).…
Many researchers have studied attachment; however, John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth are the researchers responsible for the origination of the attachment theory, therefore also becoming catalysts for the research of attachment in the late eighteenth century. Attachment, as defined by Ainsworth, is “‘an affectional tie’ that an infant forms with a caregiver—a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (Berger, 2014, p. 142). Furthermore, as described in Berger, the attachment theory assesses the behaviors associated with four identified types of infant attachment. These four types include secure, insecure-resistant/ambivalent, insecure avoidant, and disorganized attachment. Berger defines each of these types as follows: securely…
Bowlby’s career started off in the medical direction as he was following in his surgeon father’s footsteps. Bowlby studied psychology and pre-clinical sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, winning prizes for outstanding intellectual performance. After Cambridge, he worked with maladjusted and delinquent children until, at the age of twenty-two, he enrolled at University College Hospital in London. At twenty-six, he qualified in medicine. While still in medical school, he enrolled himself in the Institute for Psychoanalysis. Following medical school, he trained in adult psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. In 1936, aged 30, he qualified as a psychoanalyst. Bowlby studied several children during his time working in world war two at the Canonbury clinic, and developed a research project based on case studies of the children’s behaviours and family histories. Bowlby examined 44 delinquent children from Canonbury who had a history of stealing and compared them to controls from Canonbury that were being treated for various reasons but did not have a history of stealing.One of Bowlby’s main findings through…
Bowlby’s theory of attachment suggests that children instinctually form attachments with others to help them survive. Overtime children learn to depend on the caregiver and recognize that they will be there to comfort them and keep them safe. Attachment behaviors develop to protect against situations that threaten the closeness of those attachments. Bowlby suggested that infants and mothers have a biological need to stay in contact with each other so the child would have a secure base for exploring the world.…
John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst and believed that mental health and behavioral problems could be attributed to early childhood. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.…
Looking over a couple theories that related to Chris and his family, it seemed like attachment theory fit best. I believe that attachment theory is best for Chris because he had that secure attachment with his mom that allowed him branch out and do something completely unexpected of him. He knew that if anything went wrong he had someone there who had his back, which was his mom and sister. That knowledge of security allowed him to go on this journey and experience the unknown. Attachment theory, established by John Bowlby, is a set a concepts that are used to explain the emergence of the emotional bond that forms between an infant and their primary caregiver. It then goes on to explore that way in which the bond affects the child’s emotional…
Firstly, this essay is going to discuss John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, which was developed in 1969(REFERENCE), and how it can identify differences between individuals. According to Gross (2015), an attachment is:…
Furthermore, there are few weaknesses that Bowlby`s attachment theory displays. For instance, his theory promotes the idea that attachment behaviour has evolved therefore the child`s development presents good face validity. But he fails to take into consideration that these evolutionary ideas he proposes are seen as outdated and not universal to today’s modern society. Secondly, the theory is viewed as gender bias because it emphasises on the role of the mother being the caregiver. There is a research that has shown within two parent families, the father `s involvement in the quality of attachment can play major role in the child’s behaviour and development (Grossman & Grossman,…
John Bowlby believed that mental health and behavioral problems could be attributed to early childhood. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.…
One explanation of attachment is Bowlby’s theory who described attachment as "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings" Bowlby believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. According to Bowlby, attachment also serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the child's chances of survival. The main theme of attachment theory is that mothers who are available and responsive to their infant's needs establish a sense of security. The infant knows that the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to then explore the world.…
The evolutionary explanation of attachment was mainly developed by John Bowlby. Starting in the early 1940s he suggests that there is an innate nature attachment, this meaning that a baby is born biologically with ideas/ behaviours, for a baby to form an attachment with a caregiver. Bowlby suggests that the main reason for this instinctive attachment is due to the primary dependency for food and survival on a mother figure. Based on Freud’s theory that a mother – child relationship is important in forming future attachments Bowlby argues that the primary attachment between the baby and caregiver provided the child with what he calls an internal working model. This he describes as a template for future relationships as it gives the child an idea of whether or not they are lovable and a model of whether the person they are attached…
* “Bowlby’s theory of attachment is an evolutionary theory that suggests the behaviours demonstrated by caregivers and babies are an innate and indistinctive drive to form attachment and have evolved through natural selection.…
Why are we the way we are? It’s a question we ask ourselves constantly throughout our lives. There are many things that happen throughout a life that shapes it, whether we came from a single home with a mother who worked all day and night or if we struggled to feel accepted by peers. Fortunately, there are two widely accepted developmental theories that help us explain this, Maslow’ Hierarchy of Needs and The Attachment Theory. Maslow’s hierarchy is divided into deficiency needs and growth needs and he used these to describe what motivated human behavior. The attachment theory was first developed by John Bowlby, then expanded by Mary Ainsworth with the “Strange Situation.” The attachment theory is positioned around the emotional bonds that…
For this assignment, I am choosing to write about the Attachment Theory, because the concepts of this theory had captured my attention during class. The Attachment Theory was discovered by John Bowlby, which he had examined and analyzed the relationships between a child and their caregiver. Bowlby was attempting to understand the extreme distress from infants, who had been separated from their parents, which left the infants in discomfort. The most important stages of the Attachment Theory is during the first nine months of the infant’s life, when the bond of the newbond and caregiver must be endless, to create a trust and hopeful relationship. A child without a caregiver will likelyhood have relationship issues with another human being or…