Essays on Attachment Theory

Attachment theory provides an explanation for the relationship between a parent and a child influences subsequent development. The theory is an idea in developmental psychology concerning the importance of "attachment" regarding personal development. This theory originated from John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. However, other theorists had similar theories; they include Hazan& Shaver and Harlow. According to Harlow’s Monkeys (1958), his objective was to investigate the system by which the newborn rhesus monkey and the mother are attached to one another. It was found that these young children were exceedingly reliant on their mothers for comfort, protection, nutrition and ...

The main purpose of the current paper is to summarize an article by Barry H. Schneider, Leslie Atkinson and Christine Tardif, which is aimed to analyze and describe the attachment theory. The article was published in “Developmental Psychology” journal under the name “Child–Parent Attachment and Children’s Peer Relations: A Quantitative Review”.

The core background of the attachment theory is the fact that the safety of the child-parent bond during the early stages of child-parent relationships affects the child’s relationships with his/her parents and society during the life span. Such correlation has been proved by more ...

Attachment theories have are based on observational studies that examine the lifelong bonds that develop between children and their parents. The theory takes parents as the attachment figure, and considers the relationships that children develop during their childhood. In addition, the theory also focuses on the mental and emotional impact these particular relationships have on children once they grow up. Secure attachment on the other hand, develops when a parent or adult is sensitive towards a children's requirements, understanding fully what the child wants to communicate, and meets these requirements in an effective manner. Needless to say, the importance of secure ...

The relations at home help in determining the behavior depicted in different situations encountered in the daily life. Extensive studies have analyzed the impact of parent-child relationship in determining a child’s personality, development, adjustment style and several other characteristics (Locke, 2008). In this regard, attachment theory put forward by John Bowlby (1980) examines the attachment bond between the mother and child developed in the early years of childhood. According to the attachment theory, this attachment style impacts the behaviors exhibited later in life. Several studies have further expanded on this theory by assessing different dimensions such as adult romantic ...

Criminal behavior

Psychopathy or sociopathy as it is called at times, is a type of personality disorder, clinically regarded as ‘Antisocial Personality Disorder’ (APD). Although a big percentage of incarcerated convicts may be described as suffering from APD, only about one-fourth of them could be diagnosed for psychopathy. Also only a small percentage of these psychopaths are violent offenders. Exhibition of superficial charm and persistent lying are the two common traits of psychopaths. The emotional deficit of psychopaths limits them to experience only a narrow range of emotions. Psychopaths are very skilled in projecting themselves in good light and can beat psychological tests. Adult ...

- What is your attachment and relationship style Basing on the fact that my attachment related avoidance score is 2.20 on a scale ranging from 1-7, this entails that I have a low avoidance attachment. Furthermore, it entails that I have a low dimension, hence I am usually less worried about matters related to whether my partner loves me, and hence I don’t fear rejection. Therefore, this tends to demonstrates that my relationship style is based on a secure perspective. This shows that I have a positive view on relationship issues, and hence secure attachment helps me to be emotionally available and ...

Discuss attachment theory in the context of Tongan child-rearing practice

Attachment theory is believed that the children in the world are biologically designed to be prone to attachments to others (Crittenden, 2008). This can be clearly seen in the Tongan community especially since children do not get whatever they need from their parents. In Tongan child, rearing practice can be seen to be cruel or inhuman by other people in other cultures. This is because the Tongan children grow in a strict environment in which they are not shown love or affection by their parents, elder siblings or their extended family members. It is a fact that Tongan children are usually ...

Research suggests that early childhood education is extremely important for the success of children as they age. Without proper early childhood education, children are set up for failure in their lives before they even begin to attend school; children who attend preschool programs, for instance, have a much easier time learning in the kindergarten and first grade classrooms than children who are immediately placed into those same classrooms (Edwards, Cutter-Mackenzie et al., 2014). Perhaps some of the most important skills that children learn in these early childhood educational experiences are not academic skills, but are the skills that they need ...

Liberty University

Abstract Intimacy issues in marriages have been in the forefront of many psycho-social-spiritual circles recently. In addition, intimacy issues and barriers have just started to be analyzed psychologically, sociologically, physically, and spiritually in the psychoanalytic literature. Qualitative and longitudinal studies are giving way to new theories and thoughts on why the 21st century marriage has so many barriers to intimacy and how these barriers become ingrained in an individual’s psyche. These studies show that from birth to death, the human capacity to remember definitive moments that will forever change the outcome of an individual’s life, whether ...

Abstract

Human development is an area that has been one of the most discussed areas of study in the last one century. Cognitive development of a person from childhood days to adult years was studied extensively by a Swedish psychologist Jean Piaget. He is known as the father of cognitive development theories. His four stages of cognitive development, sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete, and formal, are still considered to be the foundation of the cognitive development process. Piaget’s theory does not touch upon why individuals develop at a different rate or why there are different developmental stages. Vygotsky, on the other hand, proposed a completely ...

Introduction

Psychodynamics is an important aspect of understanding human behavior and human response. It basically aims to improve the way humans understand the way their mind functions and how well their physical capacities are able to respond to such matters accordingly. This entails the connection of the conscious versus the unconscious behavioral response of individuals to particular situations that each person encounters. Practically, this study views that humans tend to react to situations according to their knowledge and understanding of how the issues develop and how these matters should fully affect them. At present, news items that are released ...

Parental separation has adverse effects on children growth and development. In part, children who witness parental conflicts and the eventual breakups develop hatred to the parents, and this may be exhibited through withdrawal signs by the child after parental re-introduction. Parental alienation is more common in modern times than it was before due to increased cases of parental divorce (Fidler & Bala 23). Children who have been alienated develop post-traumatic stress, and this has great impact during the re-unification process. Parents who separate from their children expose the young ones to extreme psychological and emotional abuse and this may lead ...

The song chosen for this analysis is Mario’s song titled “LET ME LOVE YOU,” and will be used to illustrate social psychological principles from chapter 10 of Social Psychology by Aronson, Wilson and Akert (2013). This is a love song and portrays the initial stage of a romantic relationship which in this case is attraction. The singer is trying to start up a relationship with a woman and talks of her beauty in the lyrics where he describes her beauty to be so intense to the extent of hurting (Barret, 2014). The woman’s beauty attracting the singer illustrates the psychological ...

Other Details

Introduction Psychodynamics is an approach to Psychology that systematically analyzes human behavior and studies the forces that drive behavior (WebMD, 2006). Therapists attempt to understand the personality of patients and help them deal with their problems. The Psychodynamic model is one of the first models to be used for analysis of personality. Psychoanalytical approach was first developed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). This approach to treatment is non intensive and includes no more than three to five sessions a week. It is based on the principle that an individual shows abnormal behavior when he is engaged in a conflict with ...

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology 3a. This is a very wide research problem. An infant named MB was reviewed. The infant was two months of age and was in the stages of infancy. MB spent the majority of her time resting. In the time that MB was awake, there were several experiments that has d been conducted in order to examine her reflexes. MB demonstrated consistent signs of reflex activity with the exceptions of the tonic neck and stepping reflex. MB did not have the capacity of holding her head upright and did not demonstrate any signs of motor development initiations. MB’ ...

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is defined by DSM-V as a developmentally inappropriate and disturbed attachment behavior that is characterized by underdeveloped attachment towards the primary caregiver. RAD was introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition (DSM-III) in 1980 and is considered as one of the disorders of infancy as it is thought to occur as early as 9 months of age (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Attachment could be defined as a predisposition of an infant or child to seek comfort from a specific attachment figure, whom they consider as their primary caregivers. RAD is a condition where ...

Reflection Analysis

Since theoretical study on child abuse and neglect is extensive, there exist different theoretical explanations and understandings to every child maltreatment incident. Before we decide in which theory of child abuse and neglect an article falls, we should first consider some general points such as causation, possible outcomes and context of the article, then we apply particular theories. We need to take into account the multiplicity of how maltreatment has been understood because theories are made from homogenous research samples that restrict their soundness and application. This reflection analysis will cite five different articles concerning child abuse and ...

Raising sons and daughters to be a good person and law abiding citizens is among the greatest challenges of parenthood. One needs to be keen on the harmonious familial relationship at home and the environment outside to assure good influences to our sons and daughters. Juvenile delinquency is one of the issues that confront the families, societies, and nations. Data from the National Institute of Justice revealed that the youth with cases in the juvenile court in the United States reached 1.3 million in 2010 (National Institute of Justice, 2014). The government attributes the high number of juvenile delinquency cases ...

According to attachment theory the quality of the bonds we form early in life affects our adjustment, coping and relationship throughout the lifespan. Secure attachment is represented by the infant’s capacity to feel comfortable and safe exploring their environment using their primary caregiver as a trustworthy base from which to depart and return (Waters & Cummings, 2000). By the time infants are six month old they recognize and internalize the response of their primary caregiver to their needs and alter their behavior to fit their caregiver’s response pattern. This first relationship sets up an attachment pattern in the child ...

Relationship Attachment

It is a general assumption that almost all adults have gone through relationships with other persons, mainly because they all exist in the society, which is primarily based on interactions and relationships. Indeed such relationships-whether filial or romantic, have varied with each different person that one gets into a relationship with, where many attribute such differences to the others’ background and personal inclinations. This paper seeks to gain insight on what psychologists have learnt from research about continuities and discontinuities in attachments through the lifespan of an individual. According to conducted research, there exists an undeniable relationship between the early ...

In psychology, there are different parenting styles, which influence the form of attachment that the children develop. Authoritative parenting establishes rules and guidelines which children are expected to follow. It is characterized by parental warmth, as well as high control, making children have positive relationships in their childhood and adult life, due to the security it offers to the child. In authoritative parenting, the parent respects the child interests but suggests their own perspective. Authoritative parents respond to their children while at the same time willing to listen to any questions that the child has. In cases where the ...

Attachment Theory as it relates to Growth and Development of young children with Developmental Disabilities

Understanding human psychology has played an important role not only for health professionals in diagnosing and treating people with health concerns, but also has helped parents among other people to detect and determine as early as possible any problem or issues that might affect those close to them. This paper has first presented an over view of attachment theory and later analyzed literature on the subject where it discusses four patterns of attachment that exist. It has also presented the stages that children undergo through in realization of a complete attachment in their infant lives. Finally it has presented discussion ...

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Bowlby's theory of attachment: An Introduction The Attachment theory by John has acquired wide recognition for perceiving social and emotional growth of children. It has offered a theory on which to shape human perception concerning the pivotal role of the parent-child interaction and its impact on psychological development. The force of attachment theory is not only affecting parenting, however also have a direct bearing on child care policies and practices, with the emphasis for sensitivity in the children – caregiver interaction. The attachment rules are also considered important for the work of ...

Psychology

In the context Attachment theory, the relationship between the parents and children and how it influence the development of children. This is the most theory of explaining the development of children since the children tend to develop attachment to their caregivers in the social set up. This attachment theory tend to be the most important due to the fact that it involves the study of several disciplines relating to the lives of human beings like evolution, psychology and ethological theory. This theory is well explained by the nature of homeless children and orphans who lack attachment to specific individuals ...

The necessity for the improvement of quality and safety of health care is an essential aspect of the modern day health care industry. Quality healthcare is one in which the services offered increase the probability of achieving desired health outcome and consistent with modern professional knowledge. Measuring the quality of health care presents a challenge due to different actors in the industry as medical errors result from not only from human error, but also faulty systems and processes. Professional nurses face myriad of challenges as it is one of the most stressful profession especially critical care nurses. This results from ...

Psychology of humanity is as interesting as presented by Bowlby in this article. The idea that human beings view the world through mental images that can change at the event of a new experience or set of experiences is interesting, and relates closely to the subjective views that many people hold. This ideal therefore holds a valid stand in the psychological areas of humanity and relationships. The subsequent section explains the variances that inform attachment theory. The exposition of the attachment theory explains a critical phenomenon in the life of humanity and psychology. From the previous study of young children and ...

Introduction

The development of children is one of the most important topics in psychology. There are several theories that have been developed to explain the behavior of children at different stages of their life. Some of the renowned theorists include Freud, Erickson, Lacan, Piaget and Melanie Klein. Melanie Klein is one of the few women who developed theories that seek to enhance our understanding of children at their infancy stage. This paper explores Klein’s object relations theory within the treatment of children.

Major concepts of the theory

The Kleinian theory seeks to not only explain some of the fears and anxieties of babies but ...

Introduction

Children require a lot of attention from their caregivers during their early stages of development. The lack of suck attention leads to certain detrimental effects on the development of the child. Attachment disorder is among the disorders that children develop when they are brought up by individuals who do not care about them. According to Pearce, the formal diagnostic terms for attachment disorder as “Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Childhood (RAD)’ (31). However, this depends upon the diagnostic conventions in the child’s country of origin i.e. the country of the child’s birth. This paper explores different aspects ...

Introduction

For Katrina, given her history, the most significant and helpful modality and intervention would be long term individual treatment. Object relations theory and attachment theory inform that choice of treatment because they are theoretical perspectives focused on how early attachment informs the ability to develop healthy relationships later in life. Trauma in early life is usually extremely dangerous in the future of a human being if not dealt with early in life. They are causes to various ill choices that the victims are likely to engage into. Katrina is an example of what most of the trauma victims undergo. ...

The topic of this paper is parent/child relationship. A positive parent child relationship is an essence of child’s psychological, emotional and social development. Parent/child relationship is defined as the combination of feelings, behaviors and emotions that are particular to certain parent and their children. Three types of problems are faced by the children due to conflicting parent child relationship; social adjustment problems, problems in adopting discipline and problems in educational settings. Studies has been quoted which show that the children personality is directly affected by the behavior and attitudes of the parents .This paper shall focus on the ...

Life is full of uncertainties and it’s never obvious when one is to lose a loved one. Coping with death is not an easy task even though people have been bereaved since time immemorial and have generally recovered. Every loss is unique on its own kind. Besides, every individual is unique, thus grief experiences varies remarkably from one individual to another. While some people experience normal grief reactions and cope well, others experience more severe grief reactions and may take too long to recover. This paper focuses on the grief experience of Ruth Fuller, a 34-year old mother of three, ...

Advancements in technology and growth of the internet have transformed the nature of relationships among human beings. John Bowlby developed the attachment theory after describing attachment from the perspective of a long-lasting psychological connection between humans. Researchers have attached the attachment theory to provide explanations to romantic relationships existing among adults. These attachment styles included the secure attachment, avoidant-insecure attachment, and ambivalent-insecure attachment. The three attachment styles put forward in the attachment theory are applicable to romantic relationships. The study presented in this paper is aimed at broadening the scope of the attachment theory by examining romantic relationships in social ...

Introduction

Attachment theory is founded on basic but critical principles which claim that that the differences in attachment between individuals can be traced back to early Care Giving; that early differences have multiple implications for patterns of adaptation in later development and that the patterns provide the basis for the differences in the emerging self during developmental stages, (Berghaus, 2011). The theory has multiple implications and applications since its proposition that cognitive schemas which are based on earlier repeated experiences with caregivers directly influence how people perceive and act while in interpersonal relationships is both simplistic and practical, (Mikulincer, Gillath, ...

“Lifespan (human) development and its changing roles through Health & Social Care settings, describing the psychological intervention that would be useful in health promotion (lifespan development to death - understanding the health and social care service users)” The development of a human being covers a broader area. It does not begin from birth but it traverses through the time when the mother conceived. Development that starts inside the mother’s womb is equally critical in deciding how the baby would continue to be in the later years of life. Initially, this phase of development was largely believed to be a period of ...

Biography and Contribution to the Attachment Theory

Mary Dinsmore Salter Ainsworth (1913-1999)

There is no doubt that Mary Ainsworth was born an intellectual judging from her contributions and discoveries in psychology and other academic fields. Perhaps, Mary Ainsworth is best known for contributions in the development of the attachment theory and as well, her works in developing of the strange situation (Bretherton, 1992). Her professional career was hugely shaped by Bowlby’s research unit.

Early Life

Mary Dinsmore Ainsworth (nee Salter), the eldest in a family of four sisters, was born to Mary and Charles Salter, Dickinson College graduates, in Glendale , Ohio, in 1913 (Bretherton, 2000). Her parents placed ...

Abstract

The attachment theory as well as the family systems theory together is proffered as the potential framework for understanding adverse effects of the parentification. The attachment theory assists in clarifying the procedure of parentification because it engages relationship between the child and the parent or caregiver. The family systems theory provides clarity for context in that the parentification takes place. The internal working models are conversed as the mechanism meaning that making the parentification process happened as well as thereby informs opportunities for the positive or negative outcomes in the adulthood. The projected framework permits for the potentially broader ...

Attachment Theory describes intergenerational attachment relations. The theory makes a valuable contribution into studying child development by suggesting the possibility of helping children by working with their parents. Empirical evidence shows that self-reliant and secure individuals usually have supportive parents, who allow and support autonomy. One of the main conclusions of the Bowlby’s research was that children need warm and intimate relationships with the permanent caregiver (most often mother) to grow up mentally healthy. The quality of interaction depends on the sensitivity of the attachment figure to the child’s signals. Moreover, during the preschool years the so ...

Q1 Attachment Theories of Different Theorists

Bowlby described attachment from a psychoanalytic point of view where he proposed that attachment was instinctive. Hence, children from the time they were born they had the tendency to form a bond with one main care giver, usually the mother. The attachment happens in the first two years of a child’s life and it is reciprocal, where the mother also develops the attachment. If there is no attachment by age three, Bowlby posited that it would be difficult for it to happen. Secure attachment was also essential for future development of mental, social, and emotional development of a child. Interruption of the ...

Development Theories and Development

“Bandura’s social learning theory explains that people learned new behavior through observing and imitating others in a process called modeling” (Newman & Newman, 2007, p. 16). The same is true for children and Bandura attributes this behavior to mental states and the external environment (Newman & Newman, 2007). The external environment enables children to mimic certain behaviors through fictional, live, and verbal models. Live models include an actual character acting out a certain behavior. Fictional are real or imaginary characters on Televisions, films, and online media. The last model is verbal, which involves portrayal and behavior explanations. Mental states act as intrinsic ...

1. What is it about secure attachment in infancy that seems to set the individual up for better emotional health throughout life? Secure attachment is considered one of the best forms of attachments that a child can ever be given. Children who are securely attached often feel upset when their caregivers or parents leave them and feel a sigh of relief when they return. Secure attachments help the children develop a binding relationship with their parents. The children usually prefer their parents to strangers. These children will tend to have some form of trusting relationships with their parents. They also develop ...

In the 1960s, following John Bolby’s article The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, many psychoanalytic figures criticised his work. They claimed that attachment theory was “mechanic, nondynamic, and explicated according to thorough misunderstandings of psychoanalytic theory” (Fonagy, 2001, page 1, p2). Critiques felt that Bowlby treated his human subjects like animals, and used too many labels and categories when reporting on experiment results. When examining the attachment theory today and, in particular, Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation experiment, it does appear that the critiques’ points were valid. The personalities and behaviours of human beings are extremely diverse, ...