Attachment Behaviours Essay Example For Students

Attachment Behaviours Essay Why have psychologists stressed the importance of attachment behaviours in development?Many theorists agree that social contact early in a childs life is important for healthy personality development. This is the most important relationship of the child development period as it is from this that the child drives its confidence in the world. A break from this relationship is experienced as highly distressing and constitutes a considerable trauma (Schaffer 1964). Through frequent social and emotional exchanges with parents the infant not only defines itself, but also acquires a particular style and orientation that some researchers believe is carried over into later life (Sroufe 1978). Therefore, the relationship between an infant and its caregiver and its development is one that has generated much interest to developmental psychologists. John Bowlby (1958, 1968) put forward a comprehensive account of attachment and believed that the infant and mother instinctively trigger each others behaviour to form an attachment bond. Attachment can therefore be defined as the ability to form focused, permanent and emotionally meaningful relationships with specific others (Butterworth Harris 1994). In child psychology, attachment is often restricted to a relationship between particular social figures and to a particular phenomenon thought to reflect unique characteristics of the relationship ( Santrock Bartlett 1986). This essay will attempt to examine the role and importance of attachment behaviours in development. In Bowlbys view, there is a dyadic emotional regulation between the infant and the mother or caregiver. The infant has innate signals to elicit responses from the caregiver. Conversely, infant behaviour such as crying, cooing, smiling etc are elicited by the caregivers specific actions e.g. leaving the room or putting the infant down. Santrock and Bartlett (1986) found that the infants behaviour is directed by the primary goal of maintaining the mothers proximi ty. The baby processes information about the mothers location and changes his behaviour based on this fact. Thus?instinct or a fixed pattern is the primary force for developmental change, but is transformed through social experience. This reciprocal tie of mother and infant is a state that ensures care and protection during the most vulnerable period of development. This attachment to the mother has a clear biological survival value, explaining the significance of the mother-infant interaction within the overall framework of attachment behaviour. Sroufe (1991) supports this view, he maintains that attachment refers to a behavioural system, which is selected for its effect on the reproductive success of individuals in the environment in which they evolved. Bowlby argued that different attachment behaviours, such as crying, following etc, are functionally related, in that all may lead to the same outcome the caregiver-infant proximity (Sroufe 1991). Bowlby argues that attachment, is therefore a primary process, which is innate, and is mediated by social interchange. Here the visual channel plays an important role, i.e. through smiling and eye to eye contacts. Bowlby outlined four phases of the development of attachment as an integrated system of behaviours in infants:Phase 1:- Birth 2/3 monthsThe infant directs his attachment to human figures on an instinctual bias; all are equally likely to elicit smiling or crying because the infant is not discriminating. Phase 2:- 3-6 monthsThe infants attachment focuses on one figure, typically the primary caregiver. Phase 3:- 6-9 monthsThe intensity of attachment to the mother or caregiver increases. Due to this and newly acquired motor skills, the infant now readily seeks the proximity to the caregiver. Phase 4:- 9-12 monthsThe elements of attachment listed above become integrated into a mutual system of attachment to which both infant and mother contribute. Bowlby argued that communication between the infant and the caregiver takes the form of non verbal communication, this can be eye to eye contact, or face to face interaction. He went on to propose that the babys smile is the essential catalyst that generates the infant-caregiver interaction. The interaction goes through positive feedback on both sides until it becomes a conversation of visually perceived gestures. Wright (1991) outlines the progress of this progression of smiling in the development of attachment behaviours:Begins at birth: At first the smile is fleeting and incomplete. 4-5 weeks: The smile is now nearly complete and the trigger for the smile becomes more specific. 5-6 weeks: The smile response is now fully formed. 6-10 weeks: The mother/caregivers face evokes a more immediate and generous smile than any other does. 2-3 months: The smile response to the mothers/ caregivers and other familiars becomes more dominant; with responses to strangers becoming weaker. American Psycho College Essay Paper(ii) Group C: Resistant insecurely attached relationships: These children are more likely to seem anxious or distressed and in need of contact even when the mother is in the room. This type of infant has trouble using the mother as a secure base for exploration. Upon reunion with the mother after separation, the infant may, while seeking contact with her may actively resist her efforts to comfort them. (iii) Group A: Avoidant insecurely attached relationships: The children of this group separate readily to play, and do not particularly seek to be close to their mother when alone with her. They are also not particularly distressed when left alone with a stranger. Most significantly, on reunion with their mother they show no more than a casual greeting and may ignore, or pointedly look away from turn away from, or move away from the caregiver. They do not initiate action and are not responsive to the mothers attempts at interaction (Sroufe 1995). This situation of being left alone, and then being reunited with the caregiver can be categorised into these three categories. An explanation of this is that with prolonged separation, the emotional upheaval is so great that the infants behavioural structure is disorganised, and cannot be put back together immediately. In clinical terms, one could speak of the infant as at first defending against the possibility of renewed pain and vulnerability by not acknowledging the presence of the caregiver. (Sroufe 1995) All in all the different patterns of attachment have complex causes. They are thought to develop as a response to different styles of mothering and as a consequence of the temperamental characteristics of the child. However, the classification may vary from culture to culture and the same baby may show different patterns depending on whether parents or siblings accompany the baby in the test. The practical importance of attachment research can be seen in the areas of hospitalisation, and re homing orphaned or foster children. The knowledge gained from these tests should help policy makers deal with these issues with sensitivity. Hospitalisation of infants in particular has benefited from this research in that caregivers are now allowed to stay in hospital with their babies or young children. The area of day care facilities have also been benefited by this research, as it suggests that a brief separation does not disrupt the healthy attachment bond as it was previously thought to do. However, if there is already stress in the home environment, the separation and insecure attachment may have adverse consequences. Longer term consequences of disrupted attachment are more difficult to establish; but is thought to be reversible, as children brought up in orphanages become securely attached to their adoptive parents even as late as 8 years old ( Tizard and Hodges 1978 cited in Butterworth Harris 1994). In conclusion, Bowlbys ideas and research provided a comprehensive basis for present day approaches to attachment. Research implies that there are, therefore three main characteristics of attachment behaviours: Firstly, the infant seeks the closeness and proximity of the caregiver. Secondly, that the infant shows distress at separation from the attachment figure and then relief upon reunion, i.e., displays a clear preference even without physical contact by eye contact or attentiveness to the sound of the caregivers voice. Thirdly, that the infant uses the attachment figure as a secure base from which to explore its physical and social environment (Brodzinsky, Gormly and Ambron 1979). The importance of attachment in the development of an infant cannot be underestimated, as it is from this bond that the infant finds comfort security and a base from which to explore his/her environment safely. Attachment behaviours can be seen as the manifestation of this ne ed that the infant has, as research suggests that a break from a meaningful, emotionally charged lasting relationship will produce highly distressing consequences. Reference:Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M.C., Waters,E. and Wall,S. (1978) Patterns of Attachment, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Bowlby, J (1969) Attachment and Loss, Vol1 Harmondsworth: Pelican Books. Brodzinsky, D.M., Gormly, A.V., Ambron, S.A., (1979) Lifespan Human Development, (3rd Ed.) 123-133, New York:Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Butterworth, G., Harris, M., (1994) Principles of Developmental Psychology, Chap. 6, Hove: LEA. Cardwell, M., Clark, L., Meldrum, c., (1996) Psychology for Alevel, London: HarperCollins. Santrock, J.W., Bartlett, J.C. (1986) Developmental Psychology: A life-cycle Perspective. 294-299, Iowa: Wm.C.Brown. Schaffer, H.R.,(1998) Making Decisions about Children, (2nd Ed.) 20-29, Blackwell. Sroufe, L. Alan, (1995) Emotional Development, The organization of emotional life in the early years. Chap.10, Cambridge:CUP. Wright, K. (1991) Vision and Separation: Between mother and baby, 8-11, London:FAB. Psychology