Attachment theory, originating in the work of John Bowlby, is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that provides a descriptive and explanatory framework for understanding interpersonal relationships between human beings.

In order to formulate a comprehensive theory of the nature of early attachments, Bowlby explored a range of fields including evolution by natural selection, object relations theory (psychoanalysis), control systems theory, evolutionary biology and the fields of ethology and cognitive psychology.

Contents

• 1 Brief description of theory
  • 1.1 Earlier theories
  • 1.2 Early developments
  • 1.3 Attachment theory
    • 1.3.1 Ethology
    • 1.3.2 Psychoanalysis
    • 1.3.3 Internal working model
    • 1.3.4 Cybernetics
  • 1.4 Behavioural development and attachment
  • 1.5 Developments
  • 1.6 Effects of changing times and approaches
• 2 Notes
• 3 References
• 4 External links

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Brief description of theory

In infants, behavior associated with attachment is primarily a process of proximity seeking to an identified attachment figure in situations of perceived distress or alarm, for the purpose of survival. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with the infant, and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age. During the later part of this period, children begin to use attachment figures (familiar people) as a secure base to explore from and return to. Parental responses lead to the development of patterns of attachment which in turn lead to ‘internal working models’ which will guide the individual’s feelings, thoughts, and expectations in later relationships. Separation anxiety or grief following serious loss are normal and natural responses in an attached infant.

The human infant is considered by attachment theorists to have a need for a secure relationship with adult caregivers, without which normal social and emotional development will not occur. However, different relationship experiences can lead to different developmental outcomes. Mary Ainsworth developed a theory of a number of attachment patterns or “styles” in infants in which distinct characteristics were identified; these were secure attachment, avoidant attachment, anxious attachment and, later, disorganized attachment. In addition to care-seeking by children, peer relationships of all ages, romantic and sexual attraction, and responses to the care needs of infants or sick or elderly adults may be construed as including some components of attachment behavior.

Earlier theories

A theory of attachment is a framework of ideas that attempt to explain attachment, the almost universal human tendency to prefer certain familiar companions over other people, especially when ill, injured, or distressed. Freudian theory attempted a systematic consideration of infant attachment and attributed the infant’s attempts to stay near the familiar person to motivation learned through feeding experiences and gratification of libidinal drives.

Parents and child

In the 1930s, the British developmentalist Ian Suttie put forward the suggestion that the child’s need for affection was a primary one, not based on hunger or other physical gratifications.

Current attachment theory focuses on social experiences in early childhood as the source of attachment in childhood and in later life.

Early developments

See also: Maternal deprivation

Bowlby was influenced by the beginnings of the object relations school of psychoanalysis and in particular, Melanie Klein, although he profoundly disagreed with the psychoanalytic belief then prevalent that saw infants responses as relating to their internal fantasy life rather than to real life events. As Bowlby began to formulate his concept of attachment, he was influenced by case studies by Levy, Powdermaker, Lowrey, Bender and Goldfarb.

In his 1951 monograph for the World Health Organization, Maternal Care and Mental Health, Bowlby put forward the hypothesis that “the infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment” and that not to do so may have significant and irreversible mental health consequences. This proposition was both influential in terms of the effect on the institutional care of children, and highly controversial.

Attachment theory

Main article: Attachment theory

Following the publication of Maternal Care and Mental Health, Bowlby sought new understanding from such fields as evolutionary biology, ethology, developmental psychology, cognitive science and control systems theory and drew upon them to formulate the innovative proposition that the mechanisms underlying an infants tie emerged as a result of evolutionary pressure.

The formal origin of attachment theory can be traced to the publication of two 1958 papers, one being Bowlby’s The Nature of the Child’s Tie to his Mother, in which the precursory concepts of “attachment” were introduced, and Harry Harlow’s The Nature of Love, based on the results of experiments which showed, approximately, that infant rhesus monkeys spent more time with soft mother-like dummies that offered no food than they did with dummies that provided a food source but were less pleasant to the touch.

Ethology

Bowlby’s attention was first drawn to ethology when he read Lorenz’s 1952 publication in draft form although Lorenz had published much earlier work.

Lorenz and his imprinted geese

Konrad Lorenz had examined the phenomenon of “imprinting” and felt that it might have some parallels to human attachment. Imprinting, a behavior characteristic of some birds and a very few mammals, involves rapid learning of recognition by a young bird or animal exposed to a conspecific or an object or organism that behaves suitably. The learning is possible only within a limited age period, known as a critical period. This rapid learning and development of familiarity with an animate or inanimate object is accompanied by a tendency to stay close to the object and to follow when it moves; the young creature is said to have been imprinted on the object when this occurs. As the imprinted bird or animal reaches reproductive maturity, its courtship behavior is directed toward objects that resemble the imprinting object. Bowlby’s attachment concepts later included the ideas that attachment involves learning from experience during a limited age period, and that the learning that occurs during that time influences adult behavior. However, he did not apply the imprinting concept in its entirety to human attachment, nor assume that human development was a simple as that of birds. He did, however, consider that attachment behavior was best explained as instinctive in nature, an approach that does not rule out the effect of experience, but that stresses the readiness the young child brings to social interactions.

Psychoanalysis

Bowlby’s view of attachment was also influenced by psychoanalytical concepts and the earlier work of psychoanalysts. In particular he was influenced by observations of young children separated from familiar caregivers, as provided during World War II by Anna Freud and her colleague Dorothy Burlingham.

Evacuee children in 1937

Observations of separated children’s grief by René Spitz were another important factor in the development of attachment theory.

Internal working model

The important concept of the internal working model of social relationships was adopted by Bowlby from the work of the philosopher Kenneth Craik,

Cybernetics

The theory of control systems (cybernetics), developing during the 1930s and ’40s, influenced Bowlby’s thinking. The young child’s need for proximity to the attachment figure was seen as balancing homeostatically with the need for exploration. The actual distance maintained would be greater or less as the balance of needs changed; for example, the approach of a stranger, or an injury, would cause the child to seek proximity when a moment before he had been exploring at a distance.

Behavioural development and attachment

Behaviour analysts have constructed models of attachment. Such models are based on the importance of contingent relationships. Behaviour analytic models have received support from research.

Developments

Although research on attachment behaviors continued after Bowlby’s death in 1990, there was a period of time when attachment theory was considered to have run its course. Some authors argued that attachment should not be seen as a trait (lasting characteristic of the individual), but instead should be regarded as an organizing principle with varying behaviors resulting from contextual factors

Interest in attachment theory continued, and the theory was later extended to adult romantic relationships by Cindy Hazen and Phillip Shaver.

Effects of changing times and approaches

Some authors have noted the connection of attachment theory with Western family and child care patterns characteristic of Bowlby’s time. The implication of this connection is that attachment-related experiences (and perhaps attachment itself) may alter as young children’s experience of care change historically. For example, changes in attitudes toward female sexuality have greatly increased the numbers of children living with their never-married mothers and being cared for outside the home while the mothers work.

Father and child

This social change, in addition to increasing abortion rates, has also made it more difficult for childless people to adopt infants in their own countries, and has increased the number of older-child adoptions and adoptions from third-world sources. Adoptions and births to same-sex couples have increased in number and even gained some legal protection, compared to their status in Bowlby’s time.

One focus of attachment research has been on the difficulties of children whose attachment history was poor, including those with extensive non-parental child care experiences. Concern with the effects of child care was intense during the so-called “day care wars” of the late 20th century, during which the deleterious effects of day care were stressed.

Finally, any critique of attachment theory needs to consider how the theory has connected with changes in other psychological theories. Research on attachment issues has begun to include concepts related to behaviour genetics and to the study of temperament (constitutional factors in personality), but it is unusual for popular presentations of attachment theory to include these. Importantly, some researchers and theorists have begun to connect attachment with the study of mentalization or Theory of Mind, the capacity that allows human beings to guess with some accuracy what thoughts, emotions, and intentions lie behind behaviours as subtle as facial expression or eye movement.

Notes

1. ^ Simpson JA (1999). “Attachment Theory in Modern Evolutionary Perspective”. Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. Ed. Cassidy J, Shaver PR. New York: Guilford Press. 115–140. ISBN 1-57230-087-6. 
2. ^ Rutter M (1995). “Clinical Implications of attachment Concepts: Retrospect and Prospect”. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 36: 549–571. PMID 7650083. 
3. ^ Schaffer R (2007). Introducing Child Psychology. Blackwell. ISBN 0631216286. 
4. ^ Bretherton I, Munholland KA (1999). “Internal Working Models in Attachment Relationships: A Construct Revisited”. Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. Ed. Cassidy J, Shaver PR. Guilford press. 89–114. ISBN 1-57230-087-6. 
5. ^ Mercer p. 37
6. ^ a b Fildes V (1988). Wet nursing. New York: Blackwell. 
7. ^ de Saussure RA (1940). “JB Felix Descuret”. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 2: 417-424. 
8. ^ a b c Bretherton I (1992). “The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth”. Developmental Psychology 28: 759. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.28.5.759. 
9. ^ Suttie I (1935). The origins of love and hate. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0415210423. 
10. ^ Prior and Glaser p. 20
11. ^ Wright M (1996). “William Emet Blatz”. Portraits of pioneers in psychology II. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 199–212. ISBN 978-0805821987. 
12. ^ Mercer p. 23
13. ^ a b Cassidy J (1999). “The Nature of a Childs Ties”. Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. Ed. Cassidy J, Shaver PR. New York: Guilford Press. 3–20. ISBN 1-57230-087-6. 
14. ^ Bowlby J (1951). Maternal Care and Mental Health. Geneva: World Health Organisation. ”With monotonous regularity each put his finger on the child’s inability to make relationships as being the central feature from which all other disturbances sprang, and on the history of institutionalisation or, as in the case quoted, of the child’s being shifted about from one foster-mother to another as being its cause” 
15. ^ Levy, D (1935). “{{{title}}}”. American Journal of Psychiatry 94: 643-x. 
16. ^ Bowlby J (1944). “Forty-four juvenile thieves: Their characters and home life”. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 25 (19-52): 107–127. “sometimes referred to by Bowlby’s colleagues as “Ali Bowlby and the Forty Thieves”” 
17. ^ Spitz RA (1951). “The psychogenic diseases in infancy”. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 6: 255–275. 
18. ^ Schwartz J (1999). Cassandra’s Daughter: A History of Psychoanalysis. Viking/Allen Lane, 225. ISBN 0670886238. 
19. ^ Deprivation of Maternal Care: A Reassessment of its Effects, Public Health Papers. Geneva: World Health Organization. 
20. ^ Bowlby (1988) p. 24
21. ^ Bowlby J (December 1986). “Citation Classic, Maternal Care and Mental Health“. Retrieved on 2008-07-13.
22. ^ Bowlby J (1958). “The nature of the child’s tie to his mother”. Int J Psychoanal 39 (5): 350–73. PMID 13610508. 
23. ^ Bowlby J (2005). The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds. Routledge Classics. ISBN 0-415-35481-1. 
24. ^ Harlow H (1958). “The Nature of Love”. American Psychologist 13: 573–685. 
25. ^ Van der Horst FCP, LeRoy HA, Van der Veer R (2008). ““When strangers meet”: John Bowlby and Harry Harlow on attachment behavior”. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science. doi:10.1007/s12124-008-9079-2. ISSN 1936-3567. Retrieved on 2008-09-11. 
26. ^ Bowlby J (1960). “Separation anxiety”. Int J Psychoanal 41: 89–113. PMID 13803480. 
27. ^ Bowlby J (1960), “Grief and mourning in infancy and early childhood”, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 15: 9–52 
28. ^ Bowlby J (1969). Attachment, Attachment and loss. Vol. I. London: Hogarth. 
29. ^ Bowlby J (1973). Separation: Anxiety & Anger, Attachment and Loss (vol. 2); (International psycho-analytical library no.95). London: Hogarth Press. ISBN 0712666214 (pbk). ISBN 0-70120-301-3. OCLC 8353942. 
30. ^ Bowlby J (1980). Loss: Sadness & Depression, Attachment and Loss (vol. 3); (International psycho-analytical library no.109). London: Hogarth Press. ISBN 0-465-04238-4 (pbk). ISBN 0-70120-350-1. OCLC 59246032. 
31. ^ Bowlby J (1999). Attachment, 2nd edition, Attachment and Loss Vol. I, New York: Basic Books. LCCN 00266879; NLM 8412414. ISBN 0-465-00543-8 (pbk). OCLC 11442968. 
32. ^ Lorenz KZ (1937). “The companion in the bird’s world”. The Auk 54: 245–273. 
33. ^ Tinbergen N (1951). The study of instinct. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198577225. 
34. ^ Van der Horst FCP, Van der Veer R, Van IJzendoorn MH (2007). “John Bowlby and ethology: An annotated interview with Robert Hinde”. Attachment & Human Development 9 (4): 321–335. doi:10.1080/14616730601149809. ISSN 1469-2988. Retrieved on 2007-11-30. 
35. ^ Holmes p. 62
36. ^ Bowlby J (1953). Critical phases in the development of social responses in man and other animals, New Biology. London: Penguin. 
37. ^ Bowlby (1969) 2nd ed. pp. 220–223
38. ^ Hartmann H (1950). “Psychoanalysis and developmental psychology”. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 5: 7–17. 
39. ^ Freud A, Burlingham DT (1943). War and children. Medical War Books. ISBN 978-0837169422. 
40. ^ Spitz R (1945). Hospitalism: An Inquiry into the Genesis of Psychiatric Conditions in Early Childhood. 
41. ^ Holmes pp. 62–3
42. ^ Holmes pp. 64–5
43. ^ Craik K (1943). The Nature of Explanation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521094450. 
44. ^ Johnson-Laird PN (1983). Mental models. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674568818. 
45. ^ a b Robbins P, Zacks JM (2007). “Attachment theory and cognitive science: commentary on Fonagy and Target”. J Am Psychoanal Assoc 55 (2): 457–67; discussion 493–501. PMID 17601100. 
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47. ^ Dunst CJ, Kassow DZ (2008). “BAO Caregiver Sensitivity, Contingent Social Responsiveness, and Secure Infant Attachment”. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention 5 (1): 40–56. 
48. ^ Sroufe LA, Waters E (1977). “Attachment as an organizational construct”. Child Development 48: 1184–1199. doi:10.2307/1128475. 
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50. ^ Behrens KY, Hesse E, Main M (November 2007). “Mothers’ attachment status as determined by the Adult Attachment Interview predicts their 6-year-olds’ reunion responses: a study conducted in Japan”. Dev Psychol 43 (6): 1553–67. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1553. PMID 18020832. 
51. ^ Main M, Cassidy J (1988). “Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period”. Developmental Psychology 24: 415–426. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.3.415. 
52. ^ Hazan C, Shaver PR (March 1987). “Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process”. J Pers Soc Psychol 52 (3): 511–24. PMID 3572722. 
53. ^ Hazan C, Shaver PR (1990). “Love and work: An attachment theoretical perspective”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59: 270–280. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.2.270. 
54. ^ Hazan C, Shaver PR (1994). “Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships”. Psychological Inquiry 5: 1–22. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0501_1. 
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56. ^ Mercer pp. 152–56
57. ^ Belsky J, Rovine MJ (February 1988). “Nonmaternal care in the first year of life and the security of infant-parent attachment”. Child Dev 59 (1): 157–67. PMID 3342709. 
58. ^ Mercer pp. 160–63
59. ^ Fonagy P, Gergely G, Jurist EL, Target M (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. New York: Other Press. ISBN 1590511611. 
60. ^ Mercer pp. 165–68

References

• Bowlby J (1969). Attachment, Attachment and loss. Vol. I. London: Hogarth.  (page numbers refer to Pelican edition 1971)
• Bowlby J (1999). Attachment, 2nd edition, Attachment and Loss Vol.I, New York: Basic Books. LCCN 00266879; NLM 8412414. ISBN 0-465-00543-8 (pbk). OCLC 11442968. 
• Bowlby J (1988). A Secure Base: Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415006406 (pbk). 
• Holmes J (1993). John Bowlby & Attachment Theory, Makers of modern psychotherapy. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07729-X. 
• Mercer, J (2006). Understanding attachment: Parenting, child care, and emotional development. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. LCCN 2005019272. ISBN 0-275-98217-3. OCLC 61115448. 
• Prior V and Glaser D (2006). Understanding Attachment and Attachment Disorders: Theory, Evidence and Practice, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, RCPRTU. ISBN 978-1-84310-245-8 (pbk). 

External links

• Richard Karen. ‘Becoming Attached’. The Atlantic Monthly February, 1990.
• Review of Richard Karen. Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How They Shape Our Capacity to Love.
• Rene Spitz’s film “Psychogenic Disease in Infancy” (1957)

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_attachment_theory”
Categories: Attachment theory | Ethology | Evolutionary biology | Psychoanalysis | Psychology | Love | Interpersonal relationships | Human development