...Bowlby’s Ethological Attachment Theory Rhonda Lawson Excelsior College Lifespan Developmental Psychology June 10, 2014 Bowlby’s Ethological Attachment Theory I) Abstract a) A natural inclination b) Strength and stability c) Theory of lifespan development II) Introduction a) Evolution and biology b) Critical periods c) Behavioral study on graylag geese d) Creation of attachment III) Bowlby’s perspectives a) Biological preparation b) Ethological theory c) Adaptive value d) Physical, social as well as cultural e) Lasting relationships IV) Application of Bowlby’s ethological attachment a) Survival b) Increases in cortisol levels and heart rates c) Psychotherapy d) Anxiety and avoidance with depression e) Development of a new attachment with a therapist f) Outcomes of a therapy process g) Diagnosis of the reactive attachment disorder V) Conclusion a) Begins at birth b) Develop attachments to primary caregivers c) Widespread acceptance d) Diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder VI) References Abstract Bowlby’s ethological attachment theory bases its argument on the premise that human individuals, just like animals have a tendency to have a natural inclination to establish and maintain lasting affectionate bonds (attachments) to the familiar and irreplaceable others. Bowlby further asserts that once the attachments are established, the strength, and stability of the...
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...Impact of poor attachment on personal development Attachment theory offers an understanding of personality development and behaviour in close relationships and provides an account of the difference in people’s emotional and relationship styles. It relates to how resilient children will become later in life when facing life stressors. In its earliest form, attachment theory concentrated on the dynamics and quality of relationships between children and their parents, but it has since been expanded to cover the lifespan. The clear result seems that early parent-child relationship, and the degree of successful attachment, mediates and influences the course of a person’s development. (Howe, 1995) This essay is based on theories and concepts put forward by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, the two most important people who have influenced the theory of attachment. In this essay I will look at the impact poor attachment has on a person’s development and the reason for choosing to explore this topic, is having developed a keen interest around the influence of poor attachment with my father and the impact it has had on my life in terms of loving, trusting and sexual relationships. Pearce (2009) states that attachment is a term that can be used to describe the dependency relationship a child develops between them and their primary care-givers and progresses throughout the years of their lives. We are not born with attachment but “this special relationship emerges over time and through...
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...Hetherington (2006) explains that middle childhood, from 6 to 12 years of age, is frequently recognized as the ‘forgotten years’ of development because most research is focussed on early childhood development or adolescent growth. Throughout middle childhood the opportunity for growth of the social, emotional, physical and cognitive centres is vastly anticipated. Over the course of this time, the brain is performing synaptic refinement and this constantly becoming more efficient although this is greatly dependent upon the environment the child is in. Within this discovery, the pathway is created for the optimisation of experiences that are necessary for the child to give themselves strong building blocks to adulthood. It is pivotal for nurses to have a clear comprehension of human development and behaviour, because each person is a creation of a number of various influential factors. In this essay, normal growth and development in middle childhood will be discussed using examples from influential developmental theorists. According to experts, the life span perspective of human development involves three key developmental domains (Hernandez, 2008). These are the physical domain, the cognitive domain, and the social domain. The physical domain deals with the physical changes that a person goes through. For example, height, shape changes, weight fluctuations, and puberty can all be described as changes that happen in the physical domain. Thinking, the decision making...
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...As human beings, we cannot live alone. Since we born, we are part of various groups in our society, such as family, neighbourhood, town, city and nation. Within those groups, we need to take part in socialisation, as we all are social beings. Therefore, it is necessary to have the skills for us to behave appropriately. To obtain these skills, positive self-esteem and self-image are required. Young children need to be loved and cared for as well as feeling safe and valued in order to have a healthy emotional development. This early emotional development involves developing relationships with others, which build the foundation for young children to develop their ability. Instead of feeling anxious about the possibility of being abandoned, children feel secured enable them to start exploring their environment and becoming independent. The very first relationship is usually built between a baby and a primary caregiver, usually the mother or mother substitute. This relationship is of particular significance as it develops the attachment, which is vital as the foundation of developing subsequent relationship (MCI, undated). "The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component of human nature" (Bowlby, 1988, p3) Attachment is described as “an enduring bond” (MCI, undated) and further elaborated by the attachment theorist, John Bowlby. He famously stated “what is believed to be essential for mental health is that an infant and young child...
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...Infancy, according to Ainsworth, Erikson, and Bandura, and the impact neglect has on development Amy Wiltsie Professor Laura Schwinn, HSV 504 Introduction Childhood neglect endured during the infancy stage of development can influence and have a “snowball effect on their subsequent successes in later stage development” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010 p. 9). Infancy, the time between birth and 12 months old, is a critical stage of development, as human growth escalates rapidly during the first few years of life. It is a period of growth that is especially sensitive and vulnerable to the effects of maltreatment (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). When childhood neglect occurs during this very sensitive period, issues of safety, attachment, and social-emotional functioning are often identified as areas that need immediate intervention. The following paper will focus on the issue of early childhood neglect and the possible effects it can have on development during infancy according to three expert theorists Mary Ainsworth, Erik Erikson, and Albert Bandura. This paper is also written using the stories from “Paul”, (a pseudonym), a victim of childhood neglect: My name is Paul. I was born in 1995 to my mother who was thirteen years old. Her boyfriend, my father, was seventeen. My father was never involved in my life, as he was actively involved in criminal behavior, which ultimately led to...
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...Motor development and language acquisitions contribute to the development of attachment and are very crucial to an infant undergoing human development. Attachment grows throughout infancy because their learning from our environment and it builds by adapting to environment language skills are not as advanced but continual practice with the caregiver is crucial because it advances an infants trust. In the documentary Charles Nelson proves early experiences influences the source of human development and attachment, he finds that language is not only limited to words, faces play an extreme role in communication. An Astounding fact that a infant can recognize their mother by her facial arts even if the face is distorted, through seeing a face everyday a baby forms the sudden understanding of expression, and essential part of communication. A child needs a face to understand intentions/motivations and the ability to process information in faces are essential to survival and correlate to attachment Engaging in human contact will enhance an infant and their natural ability of leaning. Talking to an infant or making sounds with an upbeat tone and exaggerated facial expressions causes connection between them and the caregiver. Exciting the senses by allowing an infant to explore different textures, exposure to different sights/smells helps to activate motor development. Exposure to toys and the ability to sit up and retrieve or grasp different objects increases skills causing crawling...
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...Humans naturally require love, care and attention to grow and develop in a healthy manner. Babies constantly need someone to look after them. However, care does not mean meeting only physical needs of a child; they need sensitive care. I have always thought that there is no substitute of a mother for a baby because no one else can care for baby like mother herself. Though, researches and studies have given me a broader picture of the concept of sensitive mothering, mother and child bonding and their impacts on the social and emotional development of a child. In this essay we will discuss sensitive mothering in relation to attachment theory of John Bowlby together with Ainsworth patterns of attachment. Also, link the concept with Erik Erikson psychodynamic theory and will look into researches on the impact of early attachments on social and emotional development over a life span. Sensitive mothering as explained (Ainsworth et al. (1971) in Meins et al. 2001) is mother’s sensitivity and her positive attitude towards a child. Sensitive mother is able to understand a child’s specific behaviour and respond to his/her needs on time in a proper manner. She is able to establish mother- child communication and can arouse child senses without obstructing child’s own interest and always puts her child first. Sensitive mothering allows emotional attachment, and enables mothers to read child’s emotions and respond to them accordingly. In contrast, in sensitive mother is the one who gives...
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...The Impact of Foster Care on Child Development Demeka F. Gaddy Liberty University Abstract The foster care system was designed to provide a safe temporary placement for children who can no longer stay in the care of their parents or guardian. The overall goal of foster care is for the children to return home to their caregiver. If the caregiver fails to regain custody the child is placed in other living arrangements, to include foster homes. However there is a controversy over the effectiveness of the foster care system in regards to child development. Foster care has been linked to negative impacts in child development to include; physical and sexual abuse, attachment disorders, and behavioral problems that eventually lead to children being placed in multiple placements and in some cases the juvenile justice system,. Children who are in foster care are a vulnerable group due to the being removed from their home, in some cases abruptly. It has been proven that the longer children living in foster care are subject to negative development more than children who do not live in foster care. Based on these factors the foster care system needs to focus more on the needs of the child so that positive development can occur. Keywords: child welfare, abuse, child development The Negative Impacts of Foster Care on Child Development The foster care system was designed to provide a safety net for children and families and to reunite children with their biological parents if possible...
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...Child Abuse and Its Effects on the Child’s Ability to Form Attachments The moment that a child is conceived begins a lifelong journey of attachment. Studies have shown that embryos begin bonding in the womb when they feel movement, hear voices, and through the stimulation of smell and taste. This attachment with a caregiver grows even stronger when the child is born and as they move into childhood develops further into other relationships. The intensity associated with the importance of this development is best described by Perry (2001), “The most important property of humankind is the capacity to form and maintain relationships. These relationships are absolutely necessary for any of us to survive, learn, work, love and procreate” (p. 1). That is, as long as the proper environment and development is exposed to the child. Exposure to constant distress or inflicted abuse and/or neglect to a child can result in reactive attachment disorder, along with many other socioemotional problems and disorders. This will affect all relationships, as well as their ability to accomplish goals and lead a directed, goal-oriented life. When and if others intervene within the abusive situation, will determine how the child will deal with an attachment disorder. If intervention does not occur, attachment disorders associated with abuse and/or neglect can lead to violence in children and adults. There are ways to help children cope with this disorder, but it will become a struggle they will have...
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...theory of attachment were Bowlby argues that a baby goes through a certain amount of stages to form an attachment with its primary caregiver and then multiple attachment. I will explain the stages throughout my essay. To begin, Bowlby argued that attachment is a type of mechanism that ensures the survival of the child. In other words, forming a bond with someone, often the child’s primary care giver is the most essential in order to survive. According to Bowlby which is why they strive to maintain close proximity to the significant adult. He argued that babies have abilities such as crying and smiling to encourage the primary care giver to look after them, and vice versa, the parents, particularly mothers, possess instincts designed to protect their child from harm. Bowlby presented his theory which comes under five sections, firstly being adaptive where babies have an attachment gene ensuring that the infant stays close to the caregiver for food and protein. As this is innate, the baby has social releasers (physical characteristics and behavioural characteristics) which are adaptive because a child’s behavioural characteristic helps the baby to survive. They are innate because survival of a baby’s life is naturally selected. Without any carte from the primary caregiver the baby will not be able to survive on its own. The second stage is Bowlby’s concept of monotropy, which the theory consists of a number of essential factors. Which he described as the attachment to one person...
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...Attachment Styles and Relationships Jennifer Oliver PSY/220 Adam Miller Part One When you have two individuals and they share an emotional attachment, we call this an attachment style. According to Bolt (2004), there are three main elements. Care, commitment and closeness. I like to remember them easily by calling them the 3 C’s. Attachment styles start at birth. It is important to realize that although nature and nurture are both important elements that help develop our attachment style they are not the only factors. Our parents, close relatives, even siblings can help us develop our individual attachment style. The first attachment style is closeness, from the time we are infants, we experience either the closeness of our caregivers or the absence of it. Closeness, when we are infants and even in other stages form emotional bonds. It is basic human nature to want to be close to those we feel love for. Infants who are not exposed to closeness in their early development can become anxious and scared. In some cases this is never overcome, in others as the child grows, they may experience other more stable and secure relationships and be able to overcome the closeness issues from their childhood. The second component in attachment style is care. This is a crucial element important to our development. Humans naturally want to feel safe and secure and to know that they are cared for and that there are those who would protect them at all cost. A child...
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...Abigail Graves Attachment Theory Paper The attachment theory is used to explain the relationships between humans. This was primarily developed by a psychoanalysis John Bowlby who raised the issue about maternal deprivation that developed into the attachment theory. It mainly focused on the idea that infants need to create a bound with their caregiver in order to develop emotionally and socially appropriately. It was not until recently that the theory was extended to attachment in adults. Through new research it was found that these early relationship can have a profound affect peer relationships at all ages, romantic and sexual attraction, and responses to the care needs of others as well. This is explained through case studies and applying the finding to the theories developed by Bowlby and Mary Main, defining the types of adult attachment and analyzing those to a personal style of attachment. With understanding the theories of attachment two psychologist decided to expand on the ideas that had been developed by others in their field. Kim Bartholomew and Leonard Horowitz’s expanded on the idea that was presented by Bowlby about how children internalize their attachment relationships with their parents, and internalize that for future relationships. They “…have only recently examined the relationship between working models of attachment and social and emotional adaptation in adults” (Bartholomew and Horowitz, 227, 1991). Meaning there is studies now that examine the way...
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...Three Main Styles of Attachment Christina Stoner Com/172 10/27/2015 Daniel Gleason Three Main Styles of Attachment In your relationships, have you ever tried to communicate with someone and had a hard time explaining your point? Sometimes we only understand the answer that makes the most sense to us. We forget that everyone has a different reaction style that stems from their behavioral habits. What may seem clear to you may be more challenging for another person. Secure, anxious, and avoidant are three main styles of attachment. These styles affect the way our society bonds in their relationships. Therefore, habits are formed to fulfill selective personal needs. The bond that is created by a mother and her child in the first year of life will dictate the particular attachment pattern that the child will gain. (Beebe, Jaffe, and Markese 2010, p. 97) This theory originated from John Bowlby. Bowlby's studies in childhood behavior and development led him to the conclusion that a firm attachment to a caregiver gives a sense of connection and foundation for that child. Without this kind of bonding experience, Bowlby found that most of a person’s developmental energy is disbursed by pursuing a form of stability and balance.( Karandashev, Benton, and Edwards, 2012, p.1) Therefore, anxious and avoidant attachments are fear driven by sudden changes and they don’t usually like to rely on support. The opposite attachment is secure. This results in a person feeling comfortable...
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...HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 2012/2013 MODULE LEADER: FIONA BOYD STUDENT NUMBER: N0371372 WORD COUNT: 2450 This assignment is aimed to discuss a case study using child development and adult development theories to explain the relevance of these theories to health and social care practice. It is going to briefly summarise the of major theories used by health care professionals to provide care and determine practice related decisions. The discussion is going to focus mainly on the attachment theory, Bowlby, J (1969), Levinson, D (1986) theory of life structures and Erikson, E (1963)stages of life theory. According to Banks (2001), these theories are there to help health professionals describe or predict patterns and behaviour considered to be within the parameters of normality for human beings and assess the need for intervention. Some major theories used by health care professionals today embrace the works of Freud (1856) and Bandura (1925) who challenged the view of human development and human nature by suggesting that humans are driven largely by emotions and motives of the unconscious and , a social cognitive theorist who believed humans learnt from observation of other people rather than from a pre-disposed notion of biological (nature) influences...
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...Literature and Topic Review for Environmental Influences on Personality Name Institution Literature and Topic Review for Environmental Influences on Personality 1.0 Introduction What makes an individual unique is their personality. A person’s personality refers to his mental features that differentiate this person from other people. Personality comprises of all patterns of emotions and thought that cause human beings to say things and to do them in particular ways. Personality signifies the most critical parts for a person’s psychological life. To this end, personality is, therefore, organized and dynamic set of characteristics that a person possesses (Lewis, 2001). These unique features influence a person’s motivations, behaviors and his or her cognitions in various situations. Personality is psychological, though biological processes also influence our behaviors. Our thoughts, social interactions, behavior, close relationships and feeling all influence our personality. The environment influences our personality (Myers, 2004). Anything that affects a person except his or her genes is the environment. Many external factors help in shaping our personality. These external factors include the people around us and the places that we live. Our friends, family, daily experiences, and all the people whom we interact with influence our personality. However, every person has a personality that is unique to them (Simanowitz...
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