What is Attachment?
Attachment is an emotional bond to another person. Psychologist John Bowlby, the first attachment theorist, described attachment as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings" (Bowlby 1969). Bowlby believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. The central 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.
Attaching During the Critical Years
Most professionals who work with and study the process of bonding and attachment agree that a child's first 18 – 36 months are of vital importance. In a healthy situation, this is the period within which the infant is exposed to love, nurturing and life-sustaining care. It is the time when the bonding cycle is repeated over and over again:
• The child has a need.
• He expresses that need by crying, fussing, etc.
• The need is gratified by a caregiver, who provides movement, eye contact, speech, warmth and/or feeding.
• This gratification leads to the development of the child's trust in others.
When traumatic events such as abuse and neglect occur, they can interrupt the attachment cycle—leading to serious problems in the formation of the personality and most likely affectinghim/her throughout adulthood. When the cycle is not completed and repeated, difficulties may arise in critical areas such as:
• Social/behavioral development
• Cognitive development
• Emotional development
• Cause-and-effect thinking
• Conscience development
• Reciprocal relationships
• Parenting
• Accepting responsibility
Attachment trauma in childhood may be especially problematic because of its influence on the course of psychological, social, emotional and physiological development over one's entire lifetime. The attachment bonds formed between an infant and his/her primary caretaker profoundly influence both the structure and function of her developing brain. Failed attachment, whether caused by caretaker abuse, neglect or emotional unavailability, can negatively impact brain structure and function causing developmental or relational trauma. Early life trauma affects future self esteem, social awareness, the ability to learn and physical health. When the attachment bond goes well, neurological integration develops normally and the relationship brings the expectation of safety, appreciation, joy and pleasure. If the attachment bond was unsuccessful and traumatic, neurological impairment and memories of a failed relationship become the basis for adult expectations.
A person with a history of childhood attachment trauma may function very well for long periods into later life. Yet relational stresses within adulthood will often expose the ineffective coping mechanisms and trigger a traumatic stress disorder.
Process of Developing Secure
Attachment
“Repeated experiences of parents reducing uncomfortable emotions (e.g., fear, anxiety, sadness), enabling child to feel soothed and safe when upset, become encoded in implicit memory as expectations and then as mental models or schemata of attachment, which serve to help the child feel an internal sense of a secure base in the world.” (Siegel, D.)
What is trauma for infants and toddlers?
Trauma for the infant or toddler is an unanticipated exceptional event that is powerful and dangerous in which a feeling of helplessness overwhelms the child’s capacity to cope.28 For many years, the assumption was that young children could not remember trauma; therefore, it did not affect them. Research following Hurricanes Andrew, Charley and Katrina has now established that psychologists frequently see considerable reactions and lengthy recovery from trauma among children.29 Very young children may experience
“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.”, a quote said by Simone Weil, expressing the idea that being attached to something does take its poll in this world, for really to do something that is right, a person must be detached from the intimidating pull of attachment. Being protected from attachment can give you perspective in going in the right direction, gives the means of protection of attraction and attachment, and can also help…
Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s theory of attachment John Bowlby observed a number of children who had experienced early separations from their families, and this led to his first theory, ‘the maternal deprivation hypothesis (1951), he suggested that a young child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with their mother (mother substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment, he proposed that children deprived of such a relationship might suffer permanent long-term…
Write down what you think is meant by the term ATTACHMENT What are we learning today? To understand the terms – ‘Attachment’ and ‘Secure Attachment.’ The importance of attachment in a child’s development. That a child’s reaction to separation depends on his/her age. That there are implications for the future if secure attachment does not occur. Why are we Learning This? As part of this unit Emotional and Social development you will be required to produce a leaflet. You must include…
Practice The children that I work with mostly have difficulties with Attachment due to: “Developmental Trauma which can come out of a result of having experienced or witnessed, amongst other things, physical abuse, severe neglect, sexual abuse, domestic violence, multiple placement moves, emotional abuse, deprivation…. All within the child’s close, early relationships with parents and carers in their homes”. (Louise Michelle Bomber, What about me? p.5) Before I started working in this role I worked in…
Hypothesis Worksheet For question 1 and 2 from: Eastwick, P. W. & Finkel, E. J. (2008). The attachment system in fledging relationships: An activating role for attachment anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 628-647. The Current Research We have argued that (a) attachment concerns may be salient in relationships that are still developing and (b) attachment anxiety is not only a dispositional orientation but also a state-like, normative, functional experience in established…
Overview of Attachment Styles Mary Ainsworth and Mary Main (Disorganized) Based on Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation” Procedure (1970’s) The Strange Situation experiment revealed two general categories of infant attachment styles: • 1) Secure attachment • 2) Insecure attachment: o 2a) Avoidant attachment o 2b) Ambivalent attachment 2 o 2c) Disorganized attachment (this style was discovered later by researcher Mary Main) Secure Attachment - the 'Ideal' Attachment Behavior The…
| The Influence of Attachment Styles and Motivation Behind Binge Drinking | | Kathryn Smith | | Submitted as a PSS220 Lab Report for Swinburne University Lilydale This study examines attachment styles and the influence different motives have on binge drinking in young adults between 18 and 30 year olds. There were 238 Swinburne University students and 103 non-students who participated in this study, all participants answered a questionnaire on attachment, motives and the amount…
The Infant-mother Attachment and Developmental Influence Abstract A lot of studies done based on attachment theory which focuses on the early relationship between infant and mother. The object of this paper is going to prove the importance of infant-mother relationship for a person’s development. Brief introduction about historical roots of attachment is stated. Two aspects including psychological and biological influences for long-term development were emphasized and elaborated. As a result…
Attachment: A Theory of Development of Adult Relationships Kristina Mihajlovic University of Illinois at Chicago As humans, building relationships between others is a form of connecting and communicating. It is a social situation that is experienced every day through the course of a lifetime. The initial relationship that is made is between the mother and the child. This bond that connects two people is known to be called attachment. The theory of attachment begins at birth, and from that, continuing…