Secure and Insecure Attachment - Paper
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
Secure and Insecure Attachment
Elif Ercanli
Johnson County Community Collage
Attachment is a lasting emotional bond between people. According to Berger (2011) it begins before birth, solidifies age, and influences relationships throughout life. The concept of attachment was originally developed by John Bowlby (1969,1973,1988), a British developmentalist influenced by psychoanalytic theory and ethology, the study of animals, a precursor to evolutionary psychology. ( Schore, 2001)Attachment theory is fundamentally a theory of the development of the personality over the lifespan (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1992)
Stages of Attachment
Birth to 6 weeks: Preattachment. Newborns signal, via crying and body movements, that they need others. When people respond positively, the newborn is comforted and learns to seek more interaction. Newborns are also primed by brain patterns to recognize familiar voices and faces.
6 weeks to 8 months Attachment in the making. Infants respond preferentially to familiar people by smiling, laughing, babbling. Their caregivers’ voices, touch, expressions, and gestures are comforting, often overriding the infant’s impulse to cry. Trust (Erikson) develops.
8 months to 2 years Classic secure attachment. Infants greet the primary caregiver, show separation anxiety when the caregiver leaves, and play happily when the caregiver is present. Both infant and caregiver seek to be close to each other (proximity) and frequently look at each other (contact). In many caregiver-infant pairs, physical touch (patting, holding, caressing) is frequent.
2 to 6 years Attachment as launching pad. Young children seek their caregiver’s praise and reassurance as their social world expands. Interactive conversations and games (hide-and-seek, object play, reading, presenting) are common. Children expects caregivers to comfort and entertain.
6 to 12 years Mutual attachment. Children seek to make their caregivers proud by learning what adults want
Secure and Insecure Attachment
Elif Ercanli
Johnson County Community Collage
Attachment is a lasting emotional bond between people. According to Berger (2011) it begins before birth, solidifies age, and influences relationships throughout life. The concept of attachment was originally developed by John Bowlby (1969,1973,1988), a British developmentalist influenced by psychoanalytic theory and ethology, the study of animals, a precursor to evolutionary psychology. ( Schore, 2001)Attachment theory is fundamentally a theory of the development of the personality over the lifespan (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1992)
Stages of Attachment
Birth to 6 weeks: Preattachment. Newborns signal, via crying and body movements, that they need others. When people respond positively, the newborn is comforted and learns to seek more interaction. Newborns are also primed by brain patterns to recognize familiar voices and faces.
6 weeks to 8 months Attachment in the making. Infants respond preferentially to familiar people by smiling, laughing, babbling. Their caregivers’ voices, touch, expressions, and gestures are comforting, often overriding the infant’s impulse to cry. Trust (Erikson) develops.
8 months to 2 years Classic secure attachment. Infants greet the primary caregiver, show separation anxiety when the caregiver leaves, and play happily when the caregiver is present. Both infant and caregiver seek to be close to each other (proximity) and frequently look at each other (contact). In many caregiver-infant pairs, physical touch (patting, holding, caressing) is frequent.
2 to 6 years Attachment as launching pad. Young children seek their caregiver’s praise and reassurance as their social world expands. Interactive conversations and games (hide-and-seek, object play, reading, presenting) are common. Children expects caregivers to comfort and entertain.
6 to 12 years Mutual attachment. Children seek to make their caregivers proud by learning what adults want
References: Ainsworth, Mary. Bowlby, John. Bretherton, Inge. (Sep 1992) Developmental Psychology, Vol 28(5), 759-775. Doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.28.5.75 Berger, Kathleen Stassen (2011 ) The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York. Worth Publishers. Diamond, L. M. & Fagundes, C. P. (2010). Developmental perspectives on links between attachment and affect regulation over the lifespan. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 36, 83-13. Schore, Allan N. (2001) Effects Of A Secure Attachment Relationship On Right Brain Development, Affect Regulation, And Infant Mental Health. Article. Department of Psychiatry and Bio behavioral Sciences. University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine Thompson, R. A. (2006). The development of the person: Social understanding, relationships, self, conscience. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th Ed.), Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (N. Eisenberg, Vol. Ed.) (pp. 24-98). New York: Wiley.