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Attachment theory vignettes
Infancy And Toddlerhood
The strength of attachment theory
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One important component of Attachment theory talks about fear children have in which children have less fear when they are aware of their primary caregivers’ availability and affection leads to a secure attachment to form between a caregiver and child. On the other hand, Erikson states that if the virtue of hope is not established then an infant will have a fear and start to mistrust and this will affect the development. This will have an effect on the confidence that the children develop during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. A child can start to present separation anxiety and stranger anxiety at around 9 to 18 months a child had a stranger anxiety when they were young, that may affect their development based on the type of Patterns of attachment are secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. If a child had a secure attachment he will probably not have any form of trust issues and long-lasting relationships, a secure attachment will impact his self-esteem and have a good healthy relationship with his parents and friends and seek out social support from others because of him being able to function by himself in his adolescence and adulthood. On the other hand, if a child experienced avoidant or …show more content…
Erikson developed the eight psychosocial stages of which the first 3 stages: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt affects a child’s development. A child’s relationship with his caregiver is very important because if a child doesn’t have a good relationship, and is constantly shamed for doing things and not succeeding can affect the child overall. For example, a child in his preschool age (3-5) who is trying to help his mother clean, but is too slow a mother could stop him and prevent him from and this will cause a child to be fearful of doing things because he was never permitted to do something on his
For example, when the child first arrived he made no contact with those that were in the area. The only eye contact that he made was with his grandmother. The secure attachment theory supports that children are least likely to make contact with strangers when caregivers are around. One example of no contact is, the child not making eye contact with those who were among his presence while he stayed extremely close to his grandmother. Children that are securely attached seem to become somewhat defensive when they are in different environments. They tend to push away from strangers to stay within the presence of their caregivers. They become very anxious of when they feel as if the caregiver could possibly be away from their presence. An example of “anxiousness” is when the observed child got comfortable to venture off, he hesitated leaving his grandmother; it took him a while to get comfortable with the strange surroundings and people. After the child was comfortable, he relaxed and became less anxious. When the observed child started to become comfortable within his surroundings, he slowly but cautiously shied away while turning around and hesitating before he ventured away too far. After the child ventured off, he became even more aware of his surroundings. The child had a pattern of looking for his grandmother to make sure that she was still
He implemented eight psychosocial stages which includes trust versus mistrust. One example of the specified inclusions are infants. In order to come to a resolution for these feelings of insecurity, infants look towards their care givers for care and stability to fulfill their desired needs. With autonomy versus shame stage, children begin to assert their independence, utilizing their skills otherwise they will end up doubting their abilities. Initiative versus guilt is another stage where pre-scholars develop initiative by devising and carrying out bold plans. These people plan activities, developing a sense of initiative with others therefore feeling secure in their ability to lead and make decisions. The identity versus role confusion stage is noted as Erikson’s most popular. He characterized adolescence as a crucial and critical time of identity development. To achieve a sense of identity some adolescents attempt to define and explore who they are regarding their career choice, religion, political views, sexual orientation etc., figuring out a way to fit into society. According to Erikson, “the adolescent mind is essentially a mind or moratorium, a psychosocial stage between the morality learned by the child, and the ethics to be developed by the adult” (Erikson, 1963, p.245. As they go through the different sexual and
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
As a mother to three children under the age of 11 that have all went through severe separation anxiety, I picked the Attachment Theory. This theory was founded by John Bowlby and was proven with more empirical evidence by Mary Ainsworth. According to the article, “In 1969, Bowlby introduces the word “attachment,” which had never appeared before in his writing” (Pallini and Barcaccia, 2014). The attachment theory found that children are biologically imprinted to develop attachments to caregivers because of genetics. The attachment theory examines the long-term and short-term social relationships that people develop. Bowlby conducted a study with infants and mother’s interactions. Bowlby found that infants have built in mechanisms to make the parent want to attach to them. A few examples are; crying, cooing, smiling, and making sound. In Bowlby study he found that there were for parts to attachment. The first happens
Erik H. Erikson was a significant psychologist that greatly changed the field of child development. In the 1950’s, Erikson advanced a Freudian approach in development. He viewed that social development as a series of eight challenges that people have to overcome. Each challenge has an outcome that’s either favorable or unfavorable. The outcome drastically affects a person’s personality. For example, in a favorable outcome, the result can leave a positive feeling. With a positive outlook, it’s easier for a person to cope with challenges in life. An unfavorable outcome can leave a person at a disadvantaged for the future. During the first couple challenges, Erikson believed that the caregiver has a great impact on a child’s development (Romero).
grew up in Europe and spent his young adult life under the direction of Freud. In 1933
According to (Pittman, Keiley, & Kerpelman, 2011), Bowlby theorized that it is the interactions between people that form connections and develop attachments. There are four different types of attachments; secure, avoidant, and anxious ambivalent. When we look at this theory applied to children we see that a secure attachment is when children are most comfortable when their parents are around and are easy to soothe by the parents. Insecure or avoidant attachment is when the child doesn’t prefer to be near the parents and could care less if the parents are absent. This happened when the parents failed to meet their child’s needs, despite a child expressing their needs. Anxious ambivalent attachment is when the child won’t leave their parents side, even if it is to explore their surroundings, is distraught if the parents leave, and mistrusting if the parents try to comfort after leaving (Arnett, & Maynard,
Attachment is described as the close emotional bond between two people and Attachment Theory (AT) generally concentrates on the early bonds in a person’s development as well as the effects that these bonds have on later socio-emotional development. While emphasis on attachment as an antecedent for future behavior and personality has decreased somewhat in recent years, it is interesting to note that the DSM IV-TR includes a “reactive attachment disorder” which it states is caused when extreme circumstances prevent proper attachment development.
Attachment theory states that a strong emotional and physical attachment or emotional bonding with at least one primary caregiver who is perceived as a source of security is critical to personal development of close, caring, and enduring relationships. Children who have not developed a secure attachment to their caregiver/parent are put at a great disadvantage for adulthood. Children unable to develop coping and social skills may never be able to properly attach to a partner, while secure attachment leads to a sense of being loved which results in safeguards against fear, insecurity, and inadequacy. Childhood insecurity or attachment difficulties lead to future intimate relationship problems; conversely, secure attachments lead to a positive
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)
Attachment is an emotional bond that is from one person to another. The attachment theory is a psychological, an evolutionary and an ethological theory that is concerned with relationships between humans, specifically between mother and infant. A young infant has to develop a relationship with at least one of their primary caregivers for them to develop socially and emotionally. Social competence is the condition that possesses the social, emotional and intellectual skills and behaviours, the infant needs these to success as a member of society. Many studies have been focused on the Western society, but there are many arguments to whether or not this can be applicable to other cultures, such as the poorer countries.
On the other hand, Infants who are securely attached tend to have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their infants' emotional signals, while infants who are insecurely attached tend to have caregivers who are either inconsistently sensitive or responsive to their infants' emotional signals or ignore their infants' signals altogether. The frequency and severity of stranger anxiety are influenced by a few factors. Infants tend to show greater stranger anxiety when the caregiver is not present. When a stranger is either tall, unattractive, male, approaches quickly, or touches them. Another scenario is the infant is physically restrained like in a high chair or car seat. I know parents often wonder how the rate and severity of stranger anxiety can be minimized. Doing some research I found that babies tend to show fewer negative displays if the stranger slowly approaches them and does not tower over them. They if the stranger approaches them friendly, playing with them like
Attachment theory and the role that attachment plays in healthy psychological development has long interested me. Research has shown that secure attachment produces positive long-term development (Bosmans & Kerns, 2015). Research is also showing that insecure attachment can produce various maladaptive behaviors, including anxiety disorders. Researchers Schimmenti, & Bifulco (2015) show compelling evidence linking anxiety disorders in young adults to insecure attachment styles.
In 1963, psychoanalyst Erik Erikson developed one of the most comprehensive theories of social development. The theory centers around eight stages of psychological development. One of the stages, autonomy versus shame and doubt, occurs between the ages of one and a half and three years old. In this stage toddlers develop independence if freedom and exploration are encouraged. Autonomy itself means having control over oneself. "At any given moment, our behavior, including this sense [autonomy], is influenced by the outer environment and our inner psychological state" (Restak 268). If they are overly restricted and protected they develop shame. "Shame is the estrangement of being exposed and conscious of being looked at disapprovingly, of wishing to 'bury one's face' or 'sink into the ground.'" (Blake 115). The key to developing autonomy over shame and doubt lies in the amount of control. If parents control their children too much the children will not be able to develop their o...
Erikson believes that during this stage, children will seek approval from others by displaying skills that are valued by others. Additionally, he believes that if this initiative continues, the child will develop confidence in their ability to achieve their goals. During the first few stages of both theories, we see challenges in the development of the child and we also see challenges that a child might face during some, if not all, forms of attachment theory. For example, a parent ignoring the child and speaking to them in a negative manner during insecure-avoidant attachment can be challenging for a child and lead to insecurities and the feeling of not being loved and/or wanted.