Preview

Attachment Theory by John Bowlby and Mary Ainworth

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
825 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Attachment Theory by John Bowlby and Mary Ainworth
ATTACHMENT THEORY – JOHN BOWLBY AND MARY AINSWORTH

Psychologist John Bowlby believed that childhood development depended upon a child’s ability to form a good strong relationship with at least one caregiver, this would usually be the parents. Bowlby’s studies led him to believe that a strong attachment provides the necessary sense of security but he found that those without such relationships in place were fearful and less willing to learn from new experiences unlike those who have strong parental relationships to encourage new and adventurous experiences. Mary Ainsworth developed many of the ideas set out by Bowlby in her studies. She identified the existence of what she calls “attachment behaviour” which demonstrated by insecure children hoping to establish or re-establish and attachment to absent parents. Mary Ainsworth studied a broad range of children from good strong attachments to very weak attachments.

The children were separated from their parents and their reactions were observed, the children with strong attachments stayed calm and seemed secure enough to know that their parents would be back soon, whereas the children with the weaker attachments would be insecure and cry and show signs of distress until their parents returned. Mary Ainsworth agrees with John Bowlby’s theories that a good strong healthy attachment is vital for the individuals physical development.
(psychologistworld.com)

JEAN PIAGET – COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Jean Piaget became interested with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers on questions that required logical thinking. He believed that these wrong answers revealed the differences between the think of adults and children. He was the first psychologist to make studies of cognitive development. His theories of intellectual child development include observational studies, intelligence in children and a series of simple test to reveal different intellectual abilities.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Attachment theory is a concept in developmental psychology that concerns the importance of "attachment" in regards to personal development. John Bowlby was the first Psychologist to experiment this childhood development that he believed depended heavily upon a child's ability to form a strong relationship with at least one primary caregiver. Bowlby’s studies led him to believe that children needed someone dominant for support and reassurance. Without this relationship, Bowlby felt that children would long for stability and security. On the other side of this theory, he believed a child with a strong attachment to a parent knows that they will have their “backs”, and will tend to be more adventurous and eager to have new experiences. Mary Ainsworth…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lifespan psychology is concerned with the ways in which we change and develop throughout our life and aims to find out firstly if “developmental change in just one aspect of our psychology (personality, biological and cognitive factors) will have an impact on some or all of the others” (Wood, Littleton & Oates, 2007) and secondly if, these factors are affected more by nature (internal factors) or nurture (external factors). One of the theories called upon to explore this is attachment theory which was first introduced by John Bowlby (1907-1990). A British psychoanalyst who was intrigued by the bonds between parent and child and the high levels of distressed he witnessed by the child during separation from the parent. Bowlby believed the distress behaviours shown by the child such as “crying and searching are adaptive responses to separation…from the primary attachment figure” (Fraley, 2010) providing an “evolutionary function” as the primary caregiver provides the essentials for survival at that point.…

    • 2601 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Ainsworth, M. et.al, (1978), cited in Oates, J., Lewis, C., and Lamb, M. (2005), ‘Parenting and Attachment’, in Ding, S. and Littleton, K. (eds) Children’s Personal and Social development, Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several attachment styles that a child can develop in infancy. Ainsworth (1971) divided these into secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant, when working on her ‘Strange Situation’ research. The characteristics we associate with attachment styles will provide a child with a set of beliefs about themselves and the nature of relationships with others. These attachment styles can be seen as a indicator of the nature of their future adult relationships. For example, someone who is securely attached as a child can expect to have similar relationships throughout life.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Attachment is when you get a strong reciprocal, emotional bond between two people like with a mother and infant. The attachment acts as a basis for further emotional and psychological development. Following on from the study carried out by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) on the phases of development in attachment, Ainsworth and Bell (1978) investigated individual differences in attachment using the Strange Situation. They hoped that their method of assessing attachments would be a reliable and valid measure of attachments. The Strange Situation test lasted approximately 20 minutes and involved the observation of an American infant (12 to 18 months) in a controlled observation room. The procedure consisted of 7 stressful episodes each lasting 3 minutes, depending on the reaction of the infant. The first episode involved the infant exploring the room in the presence of the caregiver. A stranger then entered the room, followed by the discreet departure of the caregiver. The caregiver would then return, and the reaction of the child would be recorded. The stranger would then leave the room. There was 3 clear groups of infants from the recorded results that were collected. One group greeted the mother on her return, this shows that the child was securely attached. Another group showed distress all around the room and rejected the mother on return, this is called an insecure resistant child. The final type of child found from the results was a child that didn’t orientate the room in which they were in, and they didn’t show any interest in their mothers return. This is called an insecure avoidant child.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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:…

    • 1727 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Contrasting and comparing the work of Harry Harlow (1962) with the work of Mary Ainsworth (1953) on understanding attachment in children, shows that attachment is not based in cupboard love (the provision of food by the mother or the primary care giver) but is mainly formed through contact comfort and the sensitive responsiveness to the child’s signals provided by the mother or by the primary care giver. Mary Ainsworth’s study and research called “Strange Situation” provides a time-saving and effective way of assessing attachment in children showing that different attachment categories develop under different situations and is also cross-cultural.…

    • 1502 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cyp Core 3.1

    • 4514 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Jean Piaget is known for his research in developmental psychology. He studied under C. G. Jung and Eugen Bleuler. He was involved in the administration of intelligence tests to children and became interested in the types of mistakes children of various ages were likely to make. Piaget began to study the reasoning processes of children at various ages. Piaget theorized that cognitive development proceeds in four genetically determined stages that always follow the same sequential order.…

    • 4514 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The results of this research as well as his own experience as a child psychiatrist in London led him to investigate the importance of a child’s, specifically infants, relationship with its mother and other peers in terms of both their social and emotional cognitive development and in 1952 working alongside James Robertson Bowlby observed that young children experienced severe distress when separated from their mothers. His final theory came to be one of the most important ideas available in relation to attachment; this consisted of five key tenants: the idea of adaptive attachment, social releasers, monotropy, the ‘critical’ or ‘sensitive’ period and lastly the internal working model.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Attachment theory is the joint work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth that examine a special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure. John Bowlby devoted extensive research to the concept of attachment and describes it as a connectedness between individuals that is psychologically lasting and through Mary Ainsworth’s innovative methodology not only has she made it possible to test some of Bowlby’s ideas empirically but has also helped expand the theory itself. This paper will examine the theory of Bowlby’s and Ainsworth theory of attachment and conclude with some of the criticisms that this theory faces.…

    • 1750 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Attachment Theory

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ainsworth observations, `the strange situation` procedure highlight emotional bond that connects mother/infant, she believed, much like Bowlby 1969(Farrington-Flint 2014 p 77) that responding sensitively and appropriately to the child’s requirement, such behaviour appears universal across cultures. Attachment theory provides an explanation of how the parent/child relationship materializes and influences development, this is supported by Psychologist Bowlby, Harlow, Lorenz theories of attachments. Bowlby also suggested a child forms one primary attachment initially, acting as a model for all future social relationships towards others, peers and personal relationships so disrupting it can have consequences. Whereas John Watson (Farrington-Flint 2014 p 133) proposed through the process of conditioning, explaining aspects of attachments though patterns of stimulus and reaction. The nature via nurture debate continues, and appears that a mixture of both enhances attachments. However the question remains can attachments if delayed be rebuilt over time of which it can but with some consequences as seen in The Open University (2014) ‘Feral children’ which focus on nature/nurture factors in cases such as feral children, Romanian orphans, highlighting extreme…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An attachment refers to ‘a close two-way emotional relationship between two people. In Child Psychology this focus is on the main care-giver most commonly (but not exclusively) our mothers.’ According to Bowlby, children develop an attachment to one main caregiver which is qualitatively different than any others e.g. warm and continuous relationship with mother. This attachment has to occur within the sensitive period (6-24 months) or there could be severe development difficulties and consequences later in life. This first attachment helps us to form our Internal Working Model which is a template for all future relationships. As well as this, Bowlby suggests that attachment is innate and is pre-programmed within the body; nature not nurture. Attachment is seen as an evolutionary theory as it is seen as a necessary mechanism for survival and is passed genetically. Bowlby also states that deprivation or loss of attachment could affect later development.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Originating with the work of John Bowlby 1982[pic], attachment theory describes a socioemotional behavioral system that guides how individuals manage their need for emotional security. This system is first evident early in life as children interact with their primary caregiver. When they are physically or psychologically threatened, children turn to their caregiver for comfort, and ideally their caregiver responds with immediate, positive, and consistent support. In reality, of course, caregivers do not always respond in ways that children expect. On the basis of their accumulated experiences with caregivers, children…

    • 2806 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics