Attachment Styles In Attachmenthood

854 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theories of maternal infant attachment

The topic of attachment styles is important when talking about infants, and how they will become later in their adult life. An attachment style is developed on how the mother or guardian treats their infant child. There are 4 main attachments styles that an infant can develop and they are, secure, Ambivalent, avoidant, and disengaged. For this particular paper, I wanted to focus on how an infant develops a secure attachment to their mothers. With secure attachment styles, the child feels confident that the mother will be there for them in time of need. This usually has to do with how the mother treats their child, and how much attention is given to the infant. Overall I wanted to get an in-depth explanation on how and why an infant develops
In order for an infant to have a secure attachment to their mothers, they must have a healthy balance between the four characteristics and they are proximity maintenance, safe haven, safe base, and separation distress. With proximity maintenance, when the mother shows that they will comfort the baby at any time, then it will increase the chances of the infant wanting to be near the mother. If the infant becomes scared of freighted by anything if they believe they have a safe haven, then the will seek comfort from their mother. With the safe base aspect, when the infant explores a new environment they feel comfortable doing so because their mother acts as the safe base if something goes wrong. Usually, if the mother is absent for a certain amount of time the infant will feel some sort of separation distress. If the Infant has a secure attachment, they will not be distress for a long time because they know that the mother will come
Mary Ainsworth created the strange situation assessment to see what type of attachment style a number of infants had. A short description of the assessment involves the mother and infant playing and exploring the room. After a short period, a stranger will walk into the room and talk to the mother. The stranger walking into the room is a sign to the mother to leave the room. How the infant reacts to the mother leaving is what determines what attachment style they have. An extensive amount of research done has backed up Ainsworth’s assessment, and the attachment styles can be a predictor of how the infant will be in their later years. During the Strange Situation Assessment, if an infant has a secure attachment then they will first be distraught that the mother left. While being left with the stranger, they will slowly warm up to them and begin to play again. When the mother returns, the infant will greet them with open arms and will gladly seek comfort from

Show More
Related

  • The Attachment Theory and Factors Damaging to Attachment

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relationships are the building block for personality and are significant in children’s ability to grow into substantial individuals who can thrive in an often harsh world. Constructing lasting and fulfilling relationships is an integral part to development as the interpersonal bonds forged are not only highly sought after but also set the ground work for all upcoming expressive interactions. Relationships and attachment go hand in hand as attachment is the strong and lasting linkage established between a child and his or her caregiver. Moreover, attachment significantly influences a large capacity of ones make up as it these first relationships that teaches morals, builds self-esteem, and develops a support system. The pioneers of Attachment Theory realized early on that human beings are not solely influenced by drives but that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers greatly impact their ability to forge lasting relationships later in life. John Bowlby was first to introduce this theory to the masses in the 1950’s, and later Mary Ainsworth conducted further research to expand on Bowlby’s theory which proclaims that attachment is a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Bowlby, 1969, p. 194). The attachment bond theory by both Bowlby and Ainsworth focuses on the significance of the relationship between babies and their caretakers which research has suggested is accountable for influencing impending interactions, firming or injuring our capabilities to concentrate, being aware of our emotional states, self-soothing capabilities, and the capacity to be resilient in the face of hardship. Additionally, this research has provided a framework for assisting in describing these att...

    Read More

  • The Strange Situation as a Measure of Attachment Type

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Strange Situation places infants into one of three categories, however Main and Solomon (1986) argued that a fourth attachment type, called disorganized and disorientated, was displayed in a small number of children. Their behaviour was a confusing mixture of approach and avoidance, and they generally were unable to form a strategy to cope with the Strange Situation. There are also marked intercultural differences in the ways infants react, as shown by Van Ijzendioorm and Kroonenburg (1998), who carried out 32 studies worldwide. Overall, Type B (secure attachment) is prevalent, but there is a higher proportion of type A in western

    Read More

  • My Virtual Child Application: The Strange Situation Application

    3272 Words  | 7 Pages

    Mary Ainsworth was known as the mother of attachment research, she tested Bowlby’s theory of attachment. She conducted a stress test better known as The Strange Situation Procedure. This consists of a series of staged episodes that illustrate the strength of attachment between a child and usually his or her mother. “The “strange situation” follows an eight-step pattern: (1) The mother and the baby enter an unfamiliar room; (2) the mother sits down, leaving the baby free to explore; (3) an adult stranger enters the room and converses first with the mother and then with the baby; (4) the mother exits the room, leaving the baby alone with the stranger; (5) the mother returns, greeting and comforting the baby, and the stranger leaves; (6) the mother departs again, leaving the baby alone; (7) the stranger returns; and (8) the mother returns and the stranger leaves.” (Cite) There are four different attachment patterns: secure, avoidant, resistant/ambivalent, and disorganized. A secure attachment is defined when the child uses the mother as a home base and the mother is responsive to the child’s needs. They are comfortable in the Strange Situation as long as the mother is there. Exploring independently, checking in with

    Read More

  • Bowlby on Attachment Behavior

    2157 Words  | 5 Pages

    Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganised/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti & E. M. Cummings (eds.), Attachment in the Preschool Years: Theory, Research and Intervention (121-160). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Read More

  • Comparing John Erikson And Mary Ainsworth And John Bowlby

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    The attachment theory, presented by Mary Ainsworth in 1969 and emerged by John Bowlby suggests that the human infant has a need for a relationship with an adult caregiver, and without a subsequent, development can be negatively impacted (Hammonds 2012). Ainsworth proposes that the type of relationship and “attachment” an infant has with the caregiver, can impact the social development of the infant. As stated by Hammonds (2012), attachment between a mother and a child can have a great impact on the child 's future mental

    Read More

  • Reactive Attachment Disorder in Children

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    An infant’s initial contact with the world and their exploration of life is directly through the parent/ primary caregiver. As the child grows, learns, and develops, a certain attachment relationship forms between them and the principle adult present in this process. Moreover, this attachment holds huge implications concerning the child’s future relationships and social successes. Children trust that their parental figure will be there; as a result, children whom form proper attachments internalize an image of their world as stable, safe, and secure. These children will grow independent while at the same time maintaining a connection with their caregivers. (Day, 2006). However, when a child f...

    Read More

  • Attachment Theory: Systematic Analysis Of The Family Of Origin

    1912 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first topic that came up in the interview relates to idea of attachment theory. Attachment theory explains the human’s way of relating to a caregiver and receives an attachment figures relating to the parent, and children. In addition, the concept explains the confidence and ability for a child to free explore their environment with a place to seek support, protection, and comfort in times of distress (Levy, Ellison, Scott, and Bernecker, 2010, p. 193). Within attachment theory explains different types of attachment styles that children experience during early childhood. These attachment styles affect the relationships they continue to build in adulthood. The best attachment style happens when the parent is attuned to the child during his or her early childhood called secure attachment (Reyes, 2010, p. 174). In order for complete secure attachment, the child needs to feel safe, seen, and soothed. Any relationship that deviates from this model represents the anxious or insecure attachment. This means that parents or caregivers are inconsistently responsive to the children. Children who have these parents are usually confused and insecure. Some children experience a dismissive attachment where they

    Read More

  • Ap Psychology

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    The “strange situation” is a laboratory assessment used to measure infants’ attachment to their mothers through observation, by providing a series’ of experiences of introductions to a stranger, separations from mother and then the reunion of the two. The “strange situation” measures the infants’ attachment in being securely to insecurely attached with the mother. The scene of the experiment is set up in a small room with mother, child and stranger, they will then follow a prescribed order of the series listed above. At first it’s only mother and child, and then the stranger joins the room. The mother tends to the child briefly and then leaves the room, leaving the child with the stranger. The child then expresses distress to a certain extent – depending on the degree of secure attachment to the mother – upon the mother’s departure and cries in calling the mother back. The mother returns and stranger leaves. The next step is then that the mother leaves the child completely alone, and when child then cries in a call for them to come back, the stranger will return instead of the mother, this is an important part of the experiment in order to determine the child’s attachment. It gets determined whether or not the child will return to a calm state of mind with the calming of the stranger. The mother will finally return to the child again and stranger will leave as the experiment and observation

    Read More

  • Child Development: Ealry Infant Attachment

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through the well-studied idea of maternal-infant attachment there has been important insight into a child’s development. Mary Ainsworth found through her “Strange Situation” experiment that there are three distinct types of attachment that infants form; anxious avoidant, secure, and anxious resistant (O’Gorman, 2013). Later a fourth attachment style known as, disorganized attachment, was identified (CITE). Secure attachment is linked to maternal sensitivity just as insecure attachment is linked to maternal rejection or unpredictable maternal response to an infant’s desires and needs (Kinsvatter, Desmond, Yanikoski, & Stahl, 2013). Infants are “at risk” of developing an insecure attachment to their mother when they are placed in alternative care before nine months of age (Stifter, Coulehan, & Fish, 1993). This is concerning in that we see there are negative effec...

    Read More

  • Attachment Styles Essay

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary Main was Ainssowrth student. She therefore introduced another fourth category of attachment styles with her attachment studies with adults. During her longitudinal research project alongside her colleague Goldwyn on middle class children’s attachment styles, they found that about 79% of the time attachment styles remained constant from 18 months to 6 years of age (in Brandell & Ringel, 2007,). However in their observations about 5%) that did not fit into Ainsworth’s classification of attachment styles, which they called ‘disorganized/disoriented attachment’ (Main & Solomon, 1986, 1990). These children were fearful and engaged in repetitive or aggressive behaviors. Their behaviors at reunion were unpredictable. They displayed contradictory behavior patterns such as approaching and then suddenly avoiding or exhibiting misdirected behavior patterns such as crying when the stranger leaves or stereotypical behaviors such as rocking, hair pulling or freezing. The mothers of these children were either depressed or had unresolved grief due to early loss of own parents (Main & Solomon, 1986). In this type of attachment, there is no or very little organized strategy to cope with stress and to form an attachment relationship with the caregiver, because here, the attachment figure is the direct cause of distress or fear. An abusive, abandoned and frightening caregiver is the source of fear and the protector at the same time. The infant shows signs of distress and displays avoidant and inconsistent reactions in the presence of the caregiver (Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Stams et al, 2002).

    Read More

  • Secure Attachment and Adulthood

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, mother-infant attachment paves the way for adult social relationships as supported by Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation experiment and its follow-up, Bowlby’s 44 Thieves study, and Henry Harlow’s classic experiment with the monkeys. Furthermore, strong secure attachments breed healthy social relationships, while insecure attachments lead to difficult social and emotional issues. The best way to prevent insecure attachments is by creating that strong mother-infant bond in the first year of life. It is crucial for potential parents to be prepared emotionally, economically, and socially for a new infant. As the acorn has the potential to become an oak with the right conditions and environment, an infant also has the potential to become a successful adult with a supportive, healthy, environment.

    Read More

  • John Bowlby's Attachment Theory

    2162 Words  | 5 Pages

    John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure, insecure/resistant, insecure/avoidant and disorganized/disoriented, later leading to research studies done to observe this behavior and how it affects a child in their adolescence and adulthood.

    Read More

  • Infant Attachment

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)

    Read More

  • The Importance of Attachment for the Children's Development

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver. The theory proved that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social and emotional development in an infant. It is critical for this to occur in the child’s early infant years. However, failed to prove that this nurturing can only be given by a mother (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Many aspects of this theory grew out of psychoanalyst, John Bowlby’s research. There are several other factors that needed to be taken into account before the social worker reached a conclusion; such as issues surrounding poverty, social class and temperament. These factors, as well as an explanation of insecure attachment will be further explored in this paper.

    Read More

  • Parent-child Bonding

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Attachment is crucial to the survival and development of the infant. Kenneth and Klaus points out that the parents bond to their child may be the strongest of all human ties. This relationship has two unique characteristics. First, before birth one individual infant gestates within a part of the mothers body and second, after birth she ensures his survival while he is utterly dependent on her and until he becomes a separate individual. According to Mercer, the power of this attachment is so great that it enables the mother and father to make the unusual sacrifices necessary for the care of their infant. Day after day, night after night; changing diapers, attending to cries, protecting the child from danger, and giving feed in the middle of the night despite their desperate need to sleep (Mercer 22). It is important to note that this original parent-infant tie is the major source for all of the infant’s subsequent attachment and is the formative relationship in the course of which the child develops a sense of himself. Throughout his lifetime the strength and character of this attachment will influence the quality of all future ties to other individuals. The question is asked, "What is the normal process by which a father and mother become attached to a healthy infant?"...

    Read More

More about Attachment Styles In Attachmenthood

Open Document