Compare and Contrast the Work of Harry Harlow and Mary Anisworth on Understanding Attachment
Compare and Contrast the work of Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment
‘Attachment’ is a lasting secure and positive feeling that bonds one person to another, one of the strongest forms of attachment is thought to develop between a mother and child. Many psychologist, sociologist, physicians and psychoanalysts have sought to explore the fundamental nature of attachment and how it had evolved. Within this essay I shall examine
• The origins of attachment
• Psychologist who seek to measure it
• The methodology used & how it has consequently helped us understand attachment
So how does attachment develop between a mother and child?
Psychoanalytical theorists such as Sigmund Freud & J.B Watson stated that ‘attachment’ was formed with a primary caregiver because they satisfy are basic biological needs, thus as babies we learn to love our mother or career as it is the person who feeds us, provides warmth and alleviates discomfort by changing our nappies or burping us (Custance 2010). John Bowlby (1907-1990) a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst labelled this theory as ‘cupboard love’, (Holmes 1993). Bowlby, notable for his pioneering work in the ‘attachment theory’ did not believe that ‘cupboard love’ was the basis for attachment he suggested that “infants process inbuilt innate tendencies that lead to the forge of emotionally powerful ties to stimuli i.e. mothers with certain properties“(Bowlby 1970), Furthermore that attachment has formulated through ethology & behavioural tendencies that are present from birth. These ideas were radical for the time (1940’s/50’s) and people were unconvinced, as Bowlby’s claims lacked scientific evidence.
In contrast to this, behaviourist would argue that infants do not immediately value their caregiver, indeed they learn to value them for example, a mother breast feeding a baby would habitually be associated with the primary reinforces of food and comfort thus, constituting a conditional stimulus (Custance
‘Attachment’ is a lasting secure and positive feeling that bonds one person to another, one of the strongest forms of attachment is thought to develop between a mother and child. Many psychologist, sociologist, physicians and psychoanalysts have sought to explore the fundamental nature of attachment and how it had evolved. Within this essay I shall examine
• The origins of attachment
• Psychologist who seek to measure it
• The methodology used & how it has consequently helped us understand attachment
So how does attachment develop between a mother and child?
Psychoanalytical theorists such as Sigmund Freud & J.B Watson stated that ‘attachment’ was formed with a primary caregiver because they satisfy are basic biological needs, thus as babies we learn to love our mother or career as it is the person who feeds us, provides warmth and alleviates discomfort by changing our nappies or burping us (Custance 2010). John Bowlby (1907-1990) a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst labelled this theory as ‘cupboard love’, (Holmes 1993). Bowlby, notable for his pioneering work in the ‘attachment theory’ did not believe that ‘cupboard love’ was the basis for attachment he suggested that “infants process inbuilt innate tendencies that lead to the forge of emotionally powerful ties to stimuli i.e. mothers with certain properties“(Bowlby 1970), Furthermore that attachment has formulated through ethology & behavioural tendencies that are present from birth. These ideas were radical for the time (1940’s/50’s) and people were unconvinced, as Bowlby’s claims lacked scientific evidence.
In contrast to this, behaviourist would argue that infants do not immediately value their caregiver, indeed they learn to value them for example, a mother breast feeding a baby would habitually be associated with the primary reinforces of food and comfort thus, constituting a conditional stimulus (Custance