Opener: Is there a difference between love and attachment? How could one’s very first experiences with others affect their ability to form relationships later in life?

ATTACHMENT THEORY CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2014

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs According to Maslow, one must have physical needs met, and safety needs met, before one can try working on love.

Attachment Theory Harry Harlow

Attachment Theory John Bowlby Bowlby: English Psychologist Commissioned by WHO in 1948 to research institutional deprivation… Orphans and difficulty in forming relationships Children in hospitals

Attachment Theory John Bowlby Premise: Human infants are biologically predisposed to develop attachment to parent to increase the likelihood of survival Konrad Lorenz and Imprinting

Imprinting

Attachment Theory John Bowlby Attachment quality is reflected in the extent to which the presence of the parent allows the child to feel comfortable enough to explore the environment Early parent-child attachment quality has long-term effects on child development and behavior

Attachment Theory Attachment does not have to be reciprocal.  One person may have an attachment with an individual which is not shared.  Attachment is characterized by specific behaviors in children, such as seeking proximity with the attachment figure when upset or threatened (Bowlby, 1969).

Attachment Theory John Bowlby (1958) considered the importance of the child’s relationship with their mother in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development.  Looked at link between early infant separations with the mother and later maladjustment. Bowlby defined attachment as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (1969, p.194).

Attachment Theory It’s innate (Lorenz & Harlow offer support) It has a critical time period to develop (at least one primary attachment figure early in life) Child develops internal working model of world A cognitive schema If attachment is not formed, social-emotional problems may develop later in life

Attachment Theory Internal working model: child forms internal mental representations of attachment relationships of their first attachment relationship Motivation for attachment is biological, but process is based on experience The cognitive schema of attachment: Ideas about attachment figures and what to expect of them Ideas about self Ideas of how self and others relate

Attachment Theory Babies seek proximity to mother and react with anxiety to separation from her.” (Bowlby, 1973) It’s emotional: negative emotional influences later life if attachment is not formed within critical time period (birth to age 2 years old) (LO 6) It’s universal: evolutionary advantages for babies to bound with mothers It does not have to be the mother, but Bowlby felt needed to be one person 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 & establishes a bases for future relationships (Trust)

Mary Ainsworth (1970) Controlled observation of children’s attachment behavior using the ‘Strange Situation Classification’ (SSC): Mother leaves child in unfamiliar environment Child is approached by stranger Mother returns Looks at separation protest, stranger anxiety and reunion behavior

Factors that promote insecure attachment: Abandonment & deprivation in the first two years of life Parenting that is abusive, neglectful, or erratic Childs own temperament creates a feedback loop Stressful circumstances of the family

Ainsworth

Ainsworth

Secure Avoidant Resistant Primary Carer’s Behaviour Towards Child Child’s ‘Working Model’ of Itself Positive & Loved Unloved & Rejected Angry & Confused Secure Avoidant Resistant