The Consequences Of Attachment

The term attachment describes a bond between individuals that is developed over time. Attachments are usually to our primary caregivers, this process is considered to be biological and present from birth (Prior and Glaser 2006). The formation of attachments is a psychological connectedness that is lasting between individuals, Bowlby (1969) Due to this, it is an integral part in the way we develop relationships. 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 …show more content…
Not only do we look for a sense of warmth, safety and nourishment from out caregivers, but we also have the natural need to feel love and affection. Therefore, early maternal deprivation can cause damage to an individuals emotional state but its impact can be reversed in if an attachment was made before the critical period comes to an end. However, if maternal deprivation went beyound the critical period, emotional damage may still occure and exposre to the mother or peers can not change …show more content…
The children were assed at the ages of 4, 6 and 11 years, results showed that the children that were adopted younger than 6 months developed normally in line with British adopted children. On the other hand, those adopted older than 6 months displayed unusual attachment behaviour such as forming attachments with any adult rather than to their primary care-giver and they also had problems forming peer relationships. This suggests that despite the disruptions of development due to deprivation, attachments can still be formed; however this could depend on the age of the child as after a certain period, the negative effects may be long-term, (Bowlby