Critical Evaluation Of Attachment Theory

Superior Essays
Unarguably, it is relevant to mention that various psychologists extensively explored the various themes regarding the aspects of the attachment theory. This theory connotes the evaluation of the emotional attachment between infants and mothers. Crucially, the "Evidence for Infants’ Internal Working Models of Attachment” report provides a brief perspective of the psychological interest regarding this theme. Previous studies have provided various vital conclusions regarding the topic. Harlow’s experiment assesses the impacts of attachment on the future behavioral and social aspects of individuals (Harlow, 1958). According to him, the value and critical significance of attachment lie in the providence of comfort and assurance apart from nutritional …show more content…
The study includes the aspects of the various contrasts and comparisons of secure and insecure infants and children. The literature asserts that insecurity in adulthood may stem from the absence of proper attachment during the younger ages. According to the study, there were a series of tests that tried to enumerate the response variations between insecure and secure children. This statement asserts that insecurity originates from the lack of maternal care or the lack of proper response with regards to the form of attachment. Moreover, it is relevant to mention that the study provides various significant conclusions regarding attachment. Secure infants, often, receive appropriate forms of attachment in response to their distress. Distress forms of infants may originate from factors such as thirst, hunger, fear, and pain. According to the study, secure children are not familiar to parents, rather, maternal figures, who do not offer the appropriate levels of attachment in response to their distresses. The study conveniently illustrates this assertion by the fact that secure children stared longer at maternal figures, who did not offer the convenient forms of …show more content…
In fact, this application signifies the significance of this theory and how it may impact social interactions. According to the literature, secure infants usually, develop into secure adults. Consequentially, secure adults usually have no obstacles when it comes to socializing and confiding to their partners. Significantly, infant attachment impacts the social aspects of adults in diverse ways. Principally, insecure infants develop into insecure adults. These adults usually face difficulties when they try to socialize with individuals. Also, they face problems when trying to form strong bonds with their romantic partners. This statement emphasizes that attachment is a determinant factor during the analysis of the interaction levels of individuals. In fact, the various behavioral disorders may stem from the inappropriate forms of attachment displayed during childhood. According to the psychological literature, attachment functions in a feedback mechanism where the rates and levels of attachment parallel the response rates. The provision of inadequate attachment levels correlates with the lack of responses by the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Bowlby (1951) saw attachment behaviour as an instinctive reaction. The infant will use social releasers, such as crying and smiling to seek proximity to the primary caregiver, to ensure survival in evolutionary times. The infant will use social releasers when proximity to the caregiver is threatened, such as by separation, insecurity or fear. Social releasers will stimulate caregiving in adults, so that care and responsiveness become determinant for attachment. A securely attached child will regulate its emotions well, and the secure attachment will act as a safe base for the child to explore the world from.…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Strange Situlation: This experiment consist of how a child reacts when his or her mother leaves the room and enter a stranger. There are four type of attachment according to this experiment: Secure attachment, insecure attachment, insecure resistant and insecure disorganized. Secure attachment consist of when the child is stressed when his or her mother leaves, however become less stress when the mother returned. Out of all the participants, 66 percent of children fell under this category. Insecure attachment involves children that do not have any particular reaction when their mother leave the room or reenter the room.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Securely attached infants show less distress than insecurely attached infants, because securely attached infants know and trust their mothers will be back eventually. These infants have developed a strong sense of trust from extensive bonding with their parents. In the Strange Situation experiment, infants were encouraged to explore the room freely and play with the toys; they acted normally. However, when the mother left, insecurely attached infants were either distressed or ceased the their search of the room. Once the mother returned, some avoided their mother completely, while the others continued their distressed behavior.…

    • 179 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    AS Psychology Attachment

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Child of Rage The individual that a child grows up to become is affected by the role of a caregiver in his or her life. The video AS Psychology Attachment Part 1 talked about the sensitive period, just a few days after birth, in an infant’s life and how crucial it is for a child to attach and bond with their caregivers (2010). In order for a child to attach to another person and form those emotional ties and that shared bond his or her needs need to be met and the infant needs to feel a sense of love and compassion from the caregiver. Every relationship that the child creates or chooses not to create is going to be based upon the relationship that the child created or did not create with his or her caregivers.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Atachemnt theory is also intergrated with behavioral theory and cognitive theory for the purpose of understanding childhood experiences. Attachment theory is also congruence with ethological theory. Both of them have the assumption that innate behavioral tendencies ensure attachment and attachment ensures survival of infants. Empirical status Although attachment theory may be included in a psychodynamic and psychoanalytic framework, unlike psychodynamics or psychoanalytic which are hard to verify by empirical study, attachment theory has strong emphasis on empirical study.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, if adversity does disrupt our attachment development, can this have consequences in the way we form future attachments or can the damage be reversible? Harlow (1958), through his study of monkeys, showed that early attachment disruptions can predict long term harm. One group of infant monkey were isolated over a long period…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is a summary of the article “Attachment Theory and Mindfulness” by Rose Snyder, Shauna Shapiro, and David Treleaven in the Journal of Child and Family Studies. In the article, Snyder et al. (2012) begins by providing a brief introduction on two fundamental psychology areas: attachment theory and mindfulness. The authors detail on the significance of early parent-infant relationship on children’s development.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Neonatal Nursing

    • 1713 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The quality of attachment is determined by the caregiver’s response to when the infant’s feelings of safety and security are threatened. Infants whose caregivers consistently respond to distress and makes sure it feels secure, is considered to be secure attachment (Benoit, 2004). Avoidant attachment is when infants whose caregivers consistently respond to distress in ways such as ignoring or becoming annoyed, develop a strategy so that they avoid their caregiver when distressed (Benoit, 2004). Infants whose caregivers respond in an inconsistent way, exaggerate displays of distress so that the distress response cannot possibly be missed by the caregiver. However, this resistant strategy increases the risk for developing social and emotional problems (Benoit,…

    • 1713 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Biological Parenthood

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages

    • Attachment theory  Social work background (Whelan, 2003). o Bond between infant and parents (Haight et al., 2003; Gauthier et al., 2004; Whelan,…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Attachment The Attachment Theory maintains that the bond between an infant and his or her primary caregiver greatly influences personality, cognitive ability, and relationships throughout life. Psychologist Mary Ainsworth studied attachment patterns through an experiment known as the Strange Situation in which a mother left a child in a room for short period of time either alone or with a stranger; the child’s behavior was assessed when the mother left and when she returned. Three different patterns were observed. They are secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and ambivalent attachment.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    When strangers separate them from their mothers, young children typically respond with exaggerated intensity, even post-reunion with the mother, anxiety or else unusual detachment remains. (Bowlby, 1969). A criticism of Bowlby’s attachment model is that children are restricted to a sole attachment figure. They can have attachments to others as well, even though they don’t necessarily show it in the same way they do as with their mother. Additionally the attachment model behaviour list is only inclusive of blatant behaviours, excluding other physiological changes explicable in separations and reunions.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The theory proposes that infants need to develop a secure attachment with at least one primary caregiver for a healthy development. Without this attachment, it could…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Attachment Styles Essay

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The phrase “attachment” was initially introduced by Bowlby in 1958. Edward John Bowlby was a British psychologist who was distinguished by his interest in children’s development and his revolutionary work in attachment theory which was the starting point in psychology. From Bowlby to Mary Ainsworth who was a developmental psychology known for her experiment The strange situation. There are different ways in which we attach to the people in their lives and how we categorise the types of attachment. The main study that assesses attachment styles is by Ainsworth and Wittig in 1969.…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This caregiver will form a secure base (developed by Ainsworth) from which the child can explore and develop (Goldberg, 2007). Ainsworth (1979) went on to develop the attachment styles through the ‘Strange Situation’ study involving presence of mother and/or stranger within a stimulating (toys and activities) environment. From this, she developed the concepts of securely and insecurely (sub categories: avoidant and resistant) attached. A child’s attachment is determined by how and to what extent the…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the experimental situation, securely attached babies freely explored the environment, using their mothers as a ‘secure base’. Also, they were less angry and co-operative, and they responded positively to being held by strangers (Ainsworth, 1979). Insecurely attached babies were further categorized into three sub-groups; insecure avoidant babies, insecure resistant babies, and insecure disorganized babies (Santrock, 2012). According to Ainsworth (1979), those babies were more angry and anxious than securely attached babies, as they shown refusal of being held by strangers, and avoided contact with their mothers.…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics