Developmental Psychology Attachment Essay - 1488 Words

Attachment is the formation of a two-way emotional bond between a child and an adult caregiver. It is an important part of developmental psychology, which is concerned with reasons and causes for human behaviour, addressing both nurture and nature aspects of childrearing. John Bowlby (1907-1990) is a key psychologist involved in the studies and theories concerning attachment. He summarised his point and the reason for attachment as follows: Based on the above, this essay intends to focus on Bowlby’s work which set out to discover links between early separation and later maladjustment through his ‘maternal deprivation hypothesis.’ This will include the reasons and importance of attachment, leading to correlations between a child’s†¦show more content†¦He also believed there was a ‘critical period,’ amounting to the first three years of a child’s life, whereby attachment deprivation in this period causes irreversible developmental effects. There are problems with these stages in that they are too rigid and do not allow for babies’ unpredictability and individualism, since they failed to take into account cultural or childrearing differences. Evidence for this was produced by Schaffer and Emerson (1964). They gained results in the observation of sixty babies which brought in some doubt to Bowlby’s monotropism theory. They observed the babies showing contradictory patterns of attachment, whereby nearly a third had formed several attachments as opposed to just one. Furthermore, by 10months old 60% of the babies had formed more than one attachment, for example with their grandparents or siblings. However, Lorenz (1952) conducted a study, with the use of goslings to try and demonstrate a similarity between attachment and imprinting in animals. This gave support to Bowlby’s belief concerning monotropy and the critical period, as the chicks would imprint of the first moving thing they saw, whether it was the actual mother goose or Lorenz himself. Lorenz’s study gave weight to Bowlby’s account, because the chicks followed Lorenz instantly from hatching, suggesting theShow MoreRelatedTheories Of Developmental Psychology : Attachment Theory1178 Words   |  5 PagesDescribe and evaluate two theories in developmental psychology Attachment theory, it refers to an affectionate bond. â€Å"A relatively extended and enduring connection with the partner is important as a unique individual is interchangeable with no other† Ainsworth (1989) cited in Gross (2003) hand out in class (03/06/2013).The aim of this attachment is for the infant to remain in close proximity to the attachment figure as she is considered the secure base and the infant would become distressed on separationRead MoreAttachment in Developmental Psychology1796 Words   |  8 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Attachment is the bond that links humans to vital people in their lives. This bond begins to develop early on in life. 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