Attachment theory is a psychological,
evolutionIn biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
ary and
ethologicalEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
theory concerning
relationshipsAn interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love and liking, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment...
between humans. The most important tenet of attachment theory is that a young child needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal social and emotional development. The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
John BowlbyJohn Bowlby was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory.- Family background :...
.
Within attachment theory, infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of proximity to an attachment figure in stressful situations. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them, and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age. During the latter 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 the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant. These behaviours may have evolved because they increase the probability of survival of the child.
Research by
developmental psychologistDevelopmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and adult development,...
Mary AinsworthMary D. Salter Ainsworth was an American developmental psychologist known for her work in early emotional attachment with "The Strange Situation" as well as her work in the development of Attachment Theory.-Life:...
underpinned the basic concepts, introduced the concept of the "secure base" and developed a theory of a number of attachment patterns in infants: secure attachment, avoidant attachment and anxious attachment. A fourth pattern, disorganised attachment, was identified later. Theorists extended
attachment theory to adultsAttachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships.Attachment theory was extended to adult romantic relationships in the late 1980s. Four styles of attachment have been identified in adults: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant...
. Other interactions may be construed as including components of attachment behaviour; these include peer relationships at all ages, romantic and sexual attraction and responses to the care needs of infants or sick or elderly adults.
To formulate a comprehensive theory of the nature of early attachments, Bowlby explored a range of fields including evolution by natural selection,
object relations theoryObject relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment. The "objects" of the theory are both real others in one's world, and one's internalized images of others...
(
psychoanalysisPsychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.
...
),
control systems theorySystems theory is an interdisciplinary theory about the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science, and is a framework by which one can investigate and/or describe any group of objects that work together to produce some result. This could be a single organism, any organization or...
,
evolutionary biologyEvolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin of species from a common descent and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication and diversity over time. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist...
and the fields of
ethologyEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
and
cognitive psychologyCognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that investigates the internal mental processes of thought such as visual processing, memory, problem solving, and language....
. After preliminary papers from 1958 onwards, Bowlby published the full theory in the trilogy
Attachment and Loss (1969–82). Although in the early days academic psychologists criticized Bowlby and the psychoanalytic community ostracised him for his departure from psychoanalytical tenets, attachment theory has become the dominant approach to understanding early social development and given rise to a great surge of
empirical researchEmpirical research is research that bases its findings on direct or indirect observation as its test of reality. Such research may also be conducted according to hypothetico-deductive procedures, such as those developed from the work of R. A. Fisher....
into the formation of children's close relationships. Criticism of attachment theory has come from a variety of disciplines. There have been significant modifications as a result of empirical research but attachment concepts have become generally accepted. Attachment theory has formed the basis of new therapies and informed existing therapies. Its concepts have been used in the formulation of social and child-care policies to support children's early attachment relationships.
Attachment
Within attachment theory,
attachment means a bond or tie between an individual and an attachment figure (usually a caregiver). Between two adults, such
bondIn psychology, the term affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a mother for her child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another...
s may be reciprocal and mutual but between a child and a parental or caregiving figure this is not the case. The reason for this is inherent in the theory in that the tie is based on the need for safety, security and protection. Such a need is paramount in infancy and childhood. The theory proposes that children attach to carers instinctively, for the purpose of achieving security, survival and, ultimately, genetic replication. The biological function is survival and the psychological function is security. Attachment theory is not an exhaustive description of human relationships, nor is it synonymous with love and affection although these may indicate that bonds exist. In child-to-adult relationships, the child's tie is called the "attachment" and the caregiver's reciprocal equivalent is referred to as the "care-giving bond".
Almost from the first, many children have more than one figure towards whom they direct attachment behaviour (proximity seeking). These figures are arranged in hierarchical order with the "principal attachment figure" at the top. If the figure is unavailable or unresponsive, separation distress occurs. The anticipation of such an occurrence arouses separation anxiety. Bowlby distinguished between alarm and anxiety: "alarm" was the term for activation of the attachment behavioural system caused by fear of danger, while "anxiety" was the fear of being cut off from the attachment figure (caregiver). In infants, physical separation can cause firstly anxiety and anger, and then sadness and despair.
By age three or four, physical separation is no longer such a threat to the child's bond with the attachment figure. Given that the set-goal of the attachment behavioural system is maintaining a bond with an accessible and available attachment figure, threats to felt security in older children and adults arise from prolonged absence, break-downs in communication, emotional unavailability or signs of rejection or abandonment.
Infants will form attachments to any consistent caregiver who is sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them. The quality of the social engagement appears to be more influential than amount of time spent. It is usual for the principal attachment figure to be the biological mother, but the role can be taken by anybody who behaves in a "mothering" way over a consistent period, a set of behaviours that involves engaging in lively social interaction with the infant and responding readily to signals and approaches. Nothing in the theory suggests that fathers are not equally likely to become principal attachment figures if they happen to provide most of the child care and related social interaction.
Attachment behaviours
The attachment behavioural system serves to maintain or achieve closer proximity to the attachment figure.
Pre-attachment behaviours occur in the first six months. During the first phase, the first 8 weeks, infants smile, babble and cry to attract the attention of caregivers. Although babies are learning to discriminate between caregivers, these behaviours are directed at anyone in the vicinity. During the second phase, two to six months, the infant increasingly discriminates between familiar and unfamiliar adults, becoming more responsive towards the caregiver, adding following and clinging to its repertoire. Clear-cut attachment develops in the third phase, between the ages of six months and two years. The infant's behaviour towards the caregiver becomes organised on a goal-directed basis to achieve the conditions that make it feel secure. By the end of the first year the infant is able to display a range of attachment behaviours designed to maintain proximity. These manifest as protesting the caregiver's departure, greeting the caregiver's return, clinging when frightened and following when able. With the development of locomotion the infant begins to use the caregiver or caregivers as a safe base from which to explore. Infant exploration is greater when the caregiver is present because the infant's attachment system is relaxed and it is free to explore. If the caregiver is inaccessible or unresponsive, attachment behaviour is strongly activated. Anxiety, fear, illness and fatigue will cause a child to increase attachment behaviours. Many attachment behaviours occur only in threatening or uncomfortable circumstances such as the approach of an unfamiliar person (stranger wariness) and it may be impossible to measure the presence of attachment without creating such circumstances.
After the second year, as the child begins to see the carer as an independent person a more complex, goal-corrected partnership is formed. Whereas a baby will cry because of pain, a two year old will cry to summon their caregiver and if that does not work, cry louder or shout or follow. Children also begin to notice other's goals and feelings and plan their actions accordingly.
Tenets
Attachment theory is a framework of ideas or tenets which connect observable human social behaviours and enable predictions to be made and tested. Common human attachment behaviours and emotions are adaptive. Human evolution has involved selection for social behaviours that make individual or group survival more likely. The commonly observed attachment behaviour of toddlers of staying near familiar people would have had safety advantages in the environment of early adaptation and has such advantages today. Bowlby saw the environment of early adaptation as similar to current hunter gatherer societies. There is a survival advantage in the capacity to sense possibly dangerous conditions such as unfamiliarity, being alone or rapid approach. Bowlby termed proximity-seeking to the attachment figure in the face of threat to be the "set-goal" of the attachment behavioural system.
The attachment system is very robust and young humans easily form attachments even in far less than ideal circumstances. In spite of the robustness of attachment, significant separation from a familiar caregiver, or frequent changes of caregiver that prevent development of attachment, may result in psychopathology at some point in later life. Infants in their first months have no preference for their biological parents over strangers and are equally friendly to anyone who treats them kindly. They develop preferences for people, and behaviours which solicit their attention and care, over a considerable period of time. When an infant is upset by separation from their caregiver this indicates that the bond no longer depends on the presence of the caregiver but is of an enduring nature.
Bowlby's original
sensitivity periodThis article is about a critical period in an organism's or person's development. See also America's Critical Period.In general, a critical period is a limited time in which an event can occur, usually to result in some kind of transformation...
of between six months and two to three years has been modified to a less "all or nothing" approach. There is a sensitive period during which it is highly desirable that selective attachments develop but the time frame is broader and the effects not so fixed and irreversible as first proposed. With further research, authors discussing attachment theory have come to appreciate that social development is affected by later as well as earlier relationships. Early steps in attachment take place most easily if the infant has one caregiver, or the occasional care of a small number of other people. According to Bowlby, almost from the first many children have more than one figure towards whom they direct attachment behaviour. These figures are not treated alike and there is a strong bias for a child to direct attachment behaviour mainly towards one particular person. Bowlby used the term "monotropy" to describe this bias. Researchers and theorists have abandoned this concept insofar as it may be taken to mean that the relationship with the special figure differs
qualitatively from that of other figures. Rather, current thinking postulates definite hierarchies of relationships.
Early experiences with caregivers gradually give rise to a system of thoughts, memories, beliefs, expectations, emotions, and behaviours about the self and others. This system, called the internal working model of social relationships, continues to develop with time and experience and enables the child to handle new types of social interactions. For example, knowing that an infant should be treated differently from an older child, or understanding that interactions with a teacher can share some of the characteristics of an interaction with a parent. An adult's internal working model continues to develop and to help cope with friendships, marriage and parenthood, all of which involve different behaviours and feelings. The development of attachment is a transactional process. Specific attachment behaviours begin with predictable, apparently innate, behaviour in infancy, but change with age in ways that are partly determined by experiences and by situational factors. As attachment behaviours change with age, they do so in ways shaped by relationships. A child's behaviour when reunited with a caregiver is determined not only by how the caregiver has treated the child before, but on the history of effects the child has had on the caregiver.
Changes in attachment during childhood and adolescence
Age, cognitive growth and continued social experience advance the development and complexity of the internal working model. Attachment-related behaviours lose some characteristics typical of the infant-toddler period and take on age-related tendencies. The preschool period involves the use of negotiation and bargaining. For example, four year-olds are not distressed by separation if they and their carer have already negotiated or agreed a shared plan for the separation and reunion. Ideally these social skills become incorporated into the internal working model to be used with other children and later with adult peers. As children move into the school years, most develop a goal-corrected partnership with parents, in which each partner is willing to compromise in order to maintain a gratifying relationship. By middle childhood there may be a shift towards mutual co-regulation of secure-base contact.
In early childhood, parental figures remain the centre of children's social worlds, even if they spend substantial periods of time in alternative care. This lessens, particularly with entrance into formal schooling. In middle childhood (ages 7–11) the goal of the attachment behavioural system changes from proximity to the attachment figure to the availability of the attachment figure. Generally a child is content with longer separations provided contact or the possibility of reuniting, if needed, is available. There will be a decline in attachment behaviours like clinging and following and an increase in self-reliance. Young children's attachment representations are typically assessed in relation to particular figures, as it appears there are limitations in their thinking restricting their ability to integrate relationship experiences into a single general model. Children begin to develop a single general model of attachment relationships during adolescence, although this may occur in middle childhood.
Relationships with peers have an influence distinct from that of parents but parent-child relationships can influence the peer relationships children form. Although peers become important in middle childhood, the evidence suggests peers do not become attachment figures though children may direct attachment behaviours at peers if parental figures are unavailable. Attachments to peers tend to emerge in adolescence although parents continue as attachment figures. With adolescents, the role of the caregiver is to be available when needed while the adolescent makes sorties into the outside world.
Attachment patterns
Mary AinsworthMary D. Salter Ainsworth was an American developmental psychologist known for her work in early emotional attachment with "The Strange Situation" as well as her work in the development of Attachment Theory.-Life:...
's innovative methodology and observational studies, particularly those undertaken in Scotland and Uganda, informed much of the theory, expanded its concepts and enabled its tenets to be empirically tested. She conducted research, based on Bowlby's early formulation, by observing infant-parent dyads during the child's first year during home visits and by studying behaviours in particular situations. This early research was published in 1967 in
Infancy in Uganda. Ainsworth identified three attachment styles or patterns that a child may have with attachment figures: secure, anxious-avoidant (insecure) and anxious-ambivalent or resistant (insecure). She devised a procedure known as the Strange Situation Protocol as the laboratory portion of her larger study, to assess separation and reunion behaviour. This is a standardised research tool used to assess attachment patterns in infants and toddlers. By creating stresses designed to activate attachment behaviour, the procedure reveals what use very young children make of their caregiver as a source of security. Carer and child are placed in an unfamiliar playroom while a researcher observes and records specific behaviours through a one-way mirror. In eight episodes the child experiences separation from and reunion with the carer and the presence of an unfamiliar stranger, in various combinations.
Ainsworth's work in the USA attracted many scholars into the field, inspiring research and challenging the dominance of behaviouralism. Further research by Dr.
Mary MainMary Main is a researcher at University of California, Berkeley who with colleagues identified and empiricized a fourth attachment style in children, namely an insecure disorganized attachment style. It can be characterized by a lack of a coherent 'organized' behavioral strategy for dealing with...
and colleagues at the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
identified a fourth attachment pattern, called disorganised/disoriented attachment. The name reflects these children's lack of a coherent coping strategy.
The type of attachment developed by infants depends on the quality of care they have received. Each of the attachment patterns is associated with certain characteristic patterns of behaviour, as described in the following table:
Child and caregiver behaviour patterns before the age of 18 months
Attachment
pattern |
Child |
Caregiver |
| Secure |
Uses caregiver as a secure base for exploration. Protests caregiver's departure and seeks proximity and is comforted on return, returning to exploration. May be comforted by the stranger but shows clear preference for the caregiver. |
Responds appropriately, promptly and consistently to needs. |
| Avoidant |
Little affective sharing in play. Little or no distress on departure, little or no visible response to return, ignoring or turning away with no effort to maintain contact if picked up. Treats the stranger similarly to the caregiver. |
Little or no response to distressed child. Discourages crying and encourages independence. |
| Ambivalent/Resistant |
Unable to use caregiver as a secure base, seeking proximity before separation occurs. Distressed on separation with ambivalence, anger, reluctance to warm to caregiver and return to play on return. Preoccupied with caregiver's availability, seeking contact but resisting angrily when it is achieved. Not easily calmed by stranger. |
Inconsistent between appropriate and neglectful responses. |
| Disorganised |
Stereotypies on return such as freezing or rocking. Lack of coherent attachment strategy shown by contradictory, disoriented behaviours such as approaching but with the back turned. |
Frightened or frightening behaviour, intrusiveness, withdrawal, negativity, role confusion, affective communication errors and maltreatment. |
The presence of an attachment and its quality are distinct. Infants form attachments if there is someone to interact with, even if mistreated. Individual differences in the relationships reflect the history of care as through repeated interactions infants begin to predict the behaviour of caregivers. The focus is the organisation (pattern) rather than quantity of attachment behaviours. Insecure attachment patterns are non-optimal as they can compromise exploration, self-confidence and mastery of the environment. However, insecure patterns are also adaptive as they are suitable responses to the unresponsiveness of the caregivers. For example, in the avoidant pattern, minimising expressions of attachment even in conditions of mild threat may forestall alienating caregivers who are already rejecting thus leaving open the possibility of responsiveness should a more serious threat arise.
In the general population about 65% of children will have a secure classification, with 35% being divided amongst the insecure classifications. Recent research has sought to ascertain the extent to which a parent's attachment classification is predictive of their children's classification; it found that parents' perceptions of their own childhood attachments predicted their children's classifications 75% of the time.
Over the short term, stability of attachment classifications is high but becomes less so over the long term. It appears stability of classification is linked to stability in caregiving conditions. Social stressors or negative life events such as illness, death, abuse or divorce are associated with instability of attachment patterns from infancy to early adulthood, particularly from secure to insecure. Conversely, sometimes these difficulties reflect particular upheavals in people's lives which may change, and sometimes parents' responses change as the child develops, changing classification from insecure to secure. Fundamental changes can and do take place after the critical early period. Physically abused and neglected children are less likely to develop secure attachments and their insecure classifications tend to persist through pre-school years. Neglect alone is associated with insecure attachment organisations and there are markedly elevated rates of disorganised attachment in maltreated infants.
This situation is complicated by difficulties in
assessing attachmentAttachment measures refer to the various procedures used to assess attachment in children and adults.Researchers have developed various ways of assessing attachment in children. A variety of methods allow children to be classified into four attachment styles: secure, anxious-ambivalent,...
classification in older age groups. The Strange Situation procedure is for ages 12 to 18 months only. There are adapted versions for pre-school children. Techniques have been developed to ascertain the child's state of mind with respect to attachment verbally, such as the stem story in which a child is given a scenario raising attachment issues and asked to complete it. For older children, adolescents and adults, semi-structured interviews are used in which the manner of relaying content may be as significant as the content itself. However, there are no substantially validated measures of attachment in middle childhood or early adolescence (approximately 7 to 13 years of age).
Some authors have questioned the idea that a taxonomy of categories representing qualitative difference in attachment relationships can be developed. Examination of data from 1,139 15-month-olds showed that variation was continuous rather than grouped. This criticism introduces important questions for attachment typologies and the mechanisms behind apparent types, but has relatively little relevance for attachment theory itself, which "neither requires nor predicts discrete patterns of attachment".
Significance of attachment patterns
There is an extensive body of research demonstrating a significant association between attachment organisations and children's functioning across multiple domains. Early insecure attachment does not necessarily predict difficulties but it is a liability for the child, particularly if the parental behaviours continue throughout childhood. Compared to securely attached children, the adjustment of insecure children in many spheres of life is not as soundly based and their future relationships are put in jeopardy. Although the link is not fully established by research and there are other influences besides attachment, secure infants are more likely to become more socially competent than their insecure peers. Relationships formed with peers influence the acquisition of social skills, intellectual development and the formation of social identity. Classification of children's peer status (popular, neglected or rejected) has been found to predict subsequent adjustment. Behavioural problems and social competence in insecure children increase or decline with deterioration or improvement in quality of parenting and the degree of risk in the family environment. Avoidant children are especially vulnerable to family risk. However an early secure attachment appears to have a lasting protective function. As with attachment to parental figures, subsequent experiences may well alter the course of development.
The most concerning pattern is disorganised attachment. About 80% of maltreated infants are likely to be classified as disorganised as opposed to about 12% found in non-maltreated samples. Only about 15% of maltreated infants are likely to be classified as secure. Children with a disorganised pattern in infancy tend to show markedly disturbed patterns of relationships. Their subsequent relationships with peers are often characterised by a "fight or flight" pattern of alternate aggression and withdrawal. Maltreated children are more likely to become maltreating parents, passing on the disordered relationship pattern. A minority do not, achieving instead secure attachments, good relationships with peers and non-abusive parenting styles.
The link between insecure attachment, particularly the disorganized classification, and the emergence of childhood psychopathology is well established although it is a non-specific risk factor for future problems, not a pathology or a direct cause of pathology in itself. In the classroom, it appears that ambivalent children are at an elevated risk for internalizing disorders and avoidant and disorganized children for externalizing disorders.
One explanation for the effects of early attachment classifications may lie in the internal working model mechanism. Internal models are not just "pictures" but refer to the feelings aroused. Their function is to enable a person to anticipate and interpret another's behaviour in the context of relationships and so plan a response. If an infant experiences their caregiver as a source of security and support, they are more likely to develop a positive self-image and expect positive reactions from others as they will generalize positive expectations from their internal model of relationships. Conversely a child from an abusive relationship may internalise a negative self-image and generalize negative expectations into other relationships. The internal working models on which attachment behaviour is based show a degree of continuity and stability. Children are likely to fall into the same categories as their primary caregiver indicating that the caregivers internal working model affects the way they relate to their child. This effect has been observed to continue across three generations. Bowlby believed that the earliest models formed were the most likely to persist because they existed outside consciousness. However such models are not impervious to change given further relationship experiences and a minority of children have different attachment classifications with different caregivers.
There is some evidence that sex-differences in attachment patterns of adaptive significance begin to emerge in middle childhood. Insecure attachment and early psychosocial stress indicate environmental risk. This can tend to favour the development of strategies for earlier reproduction. However, different patterns have different adaptive values for males and females. Insecure males tend to adopt avoidant strategies whereas insecure females tend to adopt anxious/ambivalent strategies, unless they are in a very high risk environment.
AdrenarcheAdrenarche refers to a stage of maturation of the cortex of the human adrenal glands. It typically occurs between ages 6 and 10 years and involves both structural and functional changes...
is proposed as the endocrine mechanism underlying the reorganization of insecure attachment in middle childhood.
Attachment in adults
Attachment theory was extended to adult romantic relationships in the late 1980s by Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver. Four styles of attachment have been identified in adults: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. These roughly correspond to infant classifications of secure, insecure-ambivalent, insecure-avoidant and disorganised/disorientated. Securely attached people tend to have positive views of themselves, their partners and their relationships. They feel comfortable with intimacy and independence and balance the two in their relationships. Anxious-preoccupied adults seek high levels of intimacy, approval, and responsiveness from partners and may become overly dependent. They tend to have less positive views about themselves and their partners and less trust. They may exhibit high levels of emotional expressiveness, worry, and impulsiveness in their relationships. Dismissive-avoidant adults desire a high level of independence, often appearing to avoid attachment altogether. They view themselves as self-sufficient and invulnerable to attachment feelings and often deny needing close relationships. They tend to suppress and hide their feelings and deal with rejection by distancing themselves from partners of whom they often have a poor view. Fearful-avoidant adults have mixed feelings about close relationships, both desiring and feeling uncomfortable with emotional closeness. They tend to view themselves as unworthy and mistrust their partners. As with the dismissive-avoidant style, they tend to seek less intimacy and to suppress and hide their feelings.
Two main aspects of adult attachment have been studied; the organisation and stability of the mental working models that underlie the attachment styles, explored by social psychologists interested in romantic attachment, and how attachment functions in relationship dynamics and impacts relationship outcomes, generally explored by developmental psychologists interested in the individual's state of mind with respect to attachment. The latter is more stable, while the former fluctuates more. Some authors have suggested that adults' internal working models do not have just one perspective, but use a hierarchy of models containing general ideas about close relationships, and within those, information related to specific relationships or even specific events within a relationship. Information at different levels need not be consistent.
Attachment in adults is commonly measured using the Adult Attachment Interview and self-report questionnaires. Self-report questionnaires have identified two dimensions of attachment, one dealing with anxiety about the relationship, and the other with avoidance in the relationship. For research a wide variety of measures are used, the most popular being the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised scale.
Developments
Whereas Bowlby was inspired by
PiagetJean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and philosopher, well known for his pedagogical studies...
's insights into children's thinking, current attachment scholars utilise insights from contemporary literature and research on implicit knowledge,
theory of mindTheory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own...
,
autobiographical memoryAn autobiographical memory is a personal representation of general or specific events and personal facts. Autobiographical memory also refers to memory of a person’s history. An individual does not remember exactly everything that has happened in one’s past. Memory is constructive, where previous...
and
social representationSocial Representations Theory is a body of theory within Social Psychology, and in particular within Sociological social psychology. It has parallels in sociological theorizing such as Social Constructionism and Symbolic Interactionism, and is similar in some ways to mass consensus and Discursive...
. Psychoanalyst and psychologist
Peter FonagyPeter Fonagy, born in 1952, at Budapest, Hungary, studied clinical psychology at the University College London. He is Professor of Psychoanalysis and Director of the Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London, amongst other things, a training and supervising analyst...
and Mary Target have attempted to bring attachment theory and psychoanalysis into a closer relationship through cognitive science as
mentalizationMentalization is a psychological concept used by the psychoanalytic psychologist Peter Fonagy; he employs it to describe the ability to understand the mental state of oneself and others based on overt behaviour. Fonagy sees mentalization as a form of imaginative mental activity, which allow us to...
. Mentalization, or theory of mind, is the capacity of human beings to guess with some accuracy what thoughts, emotions, and intentions lie behind behaviours as subtle as facial expression. This connection between theory of mind and the internal working model may open new areas of study and lead to alterations in attachment theory.
One focus of attachment research has been 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 some authors stressed the deleterious effects of day care. As a result of this controversy, training of child care professionals has come to stress attachment issues and the need for relationship-building such as the assignment of a child to a specific carer. Although only high-quality child care settings are likely to provide this, more infants in child care receive attachment-friendly care than in the past.
Another significant area of research and development has been the connection between problematic attachment patterns, particularly disorganised attachment, and the risk of later psychopathology. A third has been the effect on development of children having little or no opportunity to form attachments at all in their early years. A
natural experimentA natural or Quasi-experiment is a naturally occurring instance of an observable phenomena which approximate or duplicate the properties of a controlled experiment. In contrast to laboratory experiments, these events aren't created by scientists, but yield data which nonetheless can be used to...
permitted extensive study of attachment issues, as researchers followed thousands of Romanian orphans who were adopted into Western families after the end of the Ceasescu regime. The English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team, led by
Michael RutterFor the motorcycle racer, see Michael Rutter Professor Sir Michael Rutter is the first consultant of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology"...
, followed some of the children into their teens, attempting to unravel the effects of poor attachment, adoption and new relationships, and the physical and medical problems associated with their early lives. Studies on the Romanian adoptees, whose initial conditions were shocking, yielded reason for optimism. Many of the children developed quite well, and the researchers noted that separation from familiar people is only one of many factors that help to determine the quality of development. Although higher rates of atypical insecure attachment patterns were found compared to native born or early adopted samples, 70% of later adopted children did not exhibit marked or severe attachment disorder behaviours.
Authors considering attachment in non-Western cultures 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 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 or being cared for outside the home while the mothers work. 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. There has been an increase in the number of older-child adoptions and adoptions from third-world sources in first-world countries. Adoptions and births to same-sex couples have increased in number and gained legal protection, compared to their status in Bowlby's time. Issues about attachment theory have been raised with regard to the fact that infants often have multiple relationships, both within the family and in child care settings, and that the dyadic model characteristic of attachment theory cannot address the complexity of real-life social experiences.
Earlier theories
The concept of infants' emotional attachment to caregivers has been known anecdotally for hundreds of years. From the late nineteenth century onward, psychologists and psychiatrists suggested theories about attachment. Early Freudian theory had little to say about a child's relationship with the mother, considering only that the breast was the love object, but Freudians attributed the infant's attempts to stay near the familiar person to motivation learned through feeding and gratification of libidinal drives. In the 1930s, the British developmentalist Ian Suttie suggested that the child's need for affection was a primary one, not based on hunger or other physical gratifications. William Blatz, a Canadian psychologist and teacher of Mary Ainsworth, was among the first to stress the need for security as a normal part of personality at all ages, the use of others as a secure base and the importance of social relationships for development. Observers from the 1940s onward focused on anxiety displayed by infants and toddlers threatened with separation from a familiar caregiver.
Another theory prevalent at the time of Bowlby's development of attachment theory was "dependency". This proposed that infants were dependent on adult caregivers but that dependency should be outgrown as the individual matured. According to this way of thinking, attachment behaviour in older children would be seen as
regressiveRegression, according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way...
, whereas attachment theory assumes older children and adults retain attachment behaviour and display it in stressful situations; indeed, a secure attachment is associated with independent exploratory behaviour rather than dependence. Bowlby developed attachment theory as a consequence of his dissatisfaction with existing theories of early relationships.
Early developments
The early thinking of the
object relations schoolObject relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment. The "objects" of the theory are both real others in one's world, and one's internalized images of others...
of
psychoanalysisPsychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.
...
and particularly
Melanie KleinMelanie Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had a significant impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
influenced Bowlby. However he profoundly disagreed with the then prevalent psychoanalytic belief that infants' responses relate to their internal fantasy life rather than real-life events. As Bowlby began to formulate his concepts, he was influenced by case studies on disturbed and delinquent children, including his own and those of Goldfarb. Bowlby's contemporary
René SpitzRené Árpád Spitz was an American psychoanalyst of Hungarian origin.- Biography :Rene Spitz was born in Vienna and died in Denver, Colorado. From a wealthy Jewish family background, he spent most of his childhood in Hungary. After finishing his medical studies in 1910 Spitz discovered the work of...
made observations of separated children's grief and proposed that "psychotoxic" resulted from inappropriate experiences of early care. A strong influence was the work of social worker and psychoanalyst
James RobertsonJames Robertson was a psychiatric social worker and psychoanalyst based at the Tavistock Clinic and Institute, London from 1948 until 1976.' was a remarkable person who achieved great things...
who filmed the effects of separation on children in hospital and collaborated with Bowlby in making the 1952 documentary film
A Two-Year Old Goes to the Hospital which was instrumental in a campaign to alter hospital restrictions on visiting by parents.
In his 1951 monograph for the World Health Organisation,
Maternal Care and Mental HealthThe term maternal deprivation is a catch-phrase summarising the early work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother although the effect of loss of the mother on the developing child had been considered earlier by Freud...
, 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 lack of this experience may have significant and irreversible mental health consequences. The monograph was also published as
Child Care and the Growth of Love for public consumption. The central proposition was influential but highly controversial. There was limited empirical data at the time and no comprehensive theory to account for such a conclusion. Nevertheless, Bowlby's theory sparked considerable interest and controversy in the nature of early relationships and gave a strong impetus to, in the words of
Mary AinsworthMary D. Salter Ainsworth was an American developmental psychologist known for her work in early emotional attachment with "The Strange Situation" as well as her work in the development of Attachment Theory.-Life:...
, a "great body of research" in what was perceived as an extremely difficult and complex area. Bowlby's work (and Robertson's films) caused a virtual revolution in visiting by parents in hospitals, provision for children's play, educational and social needs in hospital and the use of residential nurseries. Over time, orphanages were abandoned in favour of foster care or family style homes in most developed countries.
Formulation of the theory
Following the publication of
Maternal Care and Mental Health, Bowlby sought new understanding from such fields as evolutionary biology, ethology,
developmental psychologyDevelopmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and adult development,...
,
cognitive scienceCognitive science can be defined as the study of mind or the study of thought. It embraces multiple research disciplines, including psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, sociology and biology. It relies on varying scientific methodology Cognitive...
and control systems theory. He drew upon these to formulate the innovative proposition that the mechanisms underlying an infant's tie emerged as a result of
evolutionary pressureAny cause that reduces reproductive success in a proportion of a population, potentially exerts evolutionary pressure or selection pressure. With sufficient pressure, inherited traits that mitigate its effects - even if they would be deleterious in other circumstances - can become widely spread...
. He realised he had to develop a new theory of motivation and behaviour control, built on up-to-date science rather than the outdated psychic energy model espoused by Freud. Bowlby argued that with attachment theory he had made good the "deficiencies of the data and the lack of theory to link alleged cause and effect" in
Maternal Care and Mental Health.
The formal origin of attachment theory can be traced to the publication of two 1958 papers: Bowlby's "The Nature of the Child's Tie to his Mother", in which the precursory concepts of "attachment" were introduced, and
Harry HarlowHarry Frederick Harlow was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which demonstrated the importance of care-giving and companionship in social and cognitive development...
's "The Nature of Love", based on experiments which showed, approximately, that infant rhesus monkeys spent more time with and appeared to form an
affectional bondIn psychology, the term affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a mother for her child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another...
with soft, cloth surrogate mothers that offered no food compared to wire surrogate mothers that provided a food source but were less pleasant to touch. Bowlby followed this up with two more papers, "Separation Anxiety" (1960a), and "Grief and Mourning in Infancy and Early Childhood" (1960b). At about the same time, Bowlby's colleague
Mary AinsworthMary D. Salter Ainsworth was an American developmental psychologist known for her work in early emotional attachment with "The Strange Situation" as well as her work in the development of Attachment Theory.-Life:...
was completing her extensive observational studies on the nature of infant attachments in
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
with Bowlby's ethological theories in mind. Attachment theory was finally presented in 1969 in
Attachment, the first volume of the
Attachment and Loss trilogy. The second and third volumes,
Separation: Anxiety and Anger and
Loss: Sadness and Depression followed in 1972 and 1980 respectively.
Attachment was revised in 1982 to incorporate later research.
Attachment theory came at a time when women were asserting their right to equality and independence, giving mothers new cause for anxiety, as although attachment theory itself is not gender specific, in Western society it was largely mothers who bore the responsibility of early child care. Those with political agendas interpreted the theory for their own purposes and early opposition to attachment theory coalesced around this issue.
Ethology
Bowlby's attention was first drawn to ethology when he read
Konrad LorenzKonrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, animal psychologist, ornithologist, and Nobel Prize winner. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, developing an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth...
's 1952 publication in draft form (although Lorenz had published much earlier work). Soon after this he encountered the work of
Nikolaas TinbergenNikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen was a Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns in animals.In the 1960s he...
and began to collaborate with
Robert HindeRobert Aubrey Hinde CBE FRS FBA is the Emeritus Royal Society Research Professor of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He was formerly the master of St. John's College, Cambridge. He is the chair of British Pugwash...
. In 1953 Bowlby stated "the time is ripe for a unification of psychoanalytic concepts with those of ethology, and to pursue the rich vein of research which this union suggests". Konrad Lorenz had examined the phenomenon of "
imprintingImprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior...
", a behaviour characteristic of some birds and mammals which involves rapid learning of recognition and tendency to follow, by the young of a conspecific or comparable object.
The learning is possible only within a limited age range, known as a
critical periodThis article is about a critical period in an organism's or person's development. See also America's Critical Period.In general, a critical period is a limited time in which an event can occur, usually to result in some kind of transformation...
. Bowlby's concepts included the ideas that attachment involves learning from experience during a limited age period and that this influences adult behaviour. He did not apply the imprinting concept in its entirety to human attachment but he did consider that attachment behaviour was best explained as instinctive in nature, stressing the readiness the young child brings to social interactions combined with the effect of experience. Over time it became apparent there were more differences than similarities between attachment theory and imprinting and the analogy was dropped.
Ethologists expressed concern about the adequacy of some of the research on which attachment theory was based, particularly the generalisation to humans from animal studies. Schur, discussing Bowlby's use of ethological concepts (pre-1960) commented that these concepts as used in attachment theory had not kept up with changes in ethology itself.
Ethologists and others writing in the 1960s and 1970s questioned and expanded the types of behaviour used as indications of attachment. Observational studies of young children in natural settings provided other behaviours that might indicate attachment; for example, staying within a predictable distance of the mother without effort on her part and picking up small objects and bringing them to the mother, but not to other adults. Although ethologists tended to be in agreement with Bowlby, they pressed for more data and objected to psychologists writing as if there was an "entity which is 'attachment', existing over and above the observable measures."
Robert HindeRobert Aubrey Hinde CBE FRS FBA is the Emeritus Royal Society Research Professor of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He was formerly the master of St. John's College, Cambridge. He is the chair of British Pugwash...
expressed concern with the use of the word "attachment" to imply that it was an emotional or mental condition rather than a data term for observable behaviours. He suggested that this could lead to the "instinct fallacy", an error of circular reasoning proposing that a behaviour is caused by a mechanism that is believed to exist because the behaviour can be observed. However, Hinde considered "attachment behaviour system" to be an appropriate term which did not offer the same problems "because it refers to postulated control systems that determine the relations between different kinds of behaviour."
Psychoanalysis
PsychoanalyticPsychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and continued by others. It is primarily devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it also can be applied to societies.
...
concepts and the earlier work of psychoanalysts also influenced Bowlby's view of attachment. In particular, he was influenced by observations of young children separated from familiar caregivers, as provided during World War II by
Anna FreudAnna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis. With Melanie Klein, she is the cofounder of psychoanalytic child psychology...
and her colleague Dorothy Burlingham. However, Bowlby rejected psychoanalytical explanations for early infant bonds including the psychoanalytic belief that infants' responses relate to their internal fantasy life rather than to real-life events. He also rejected the Freudian and early object relations "drive theory" in which the motivation for attachment derives from gratification of hunger and libidinal drives, calling it the "cupboard-love" theory of relationships. In his view this failed to see attachment as a psychological bond in its own right rather than an instinct derived from feeding or sexuality. Thinking in terms of primary attachment and neo-Darwinism, Bowlby identified what he saw as fundamental flaws in psychoanalysis; the overemphasis of internal dangers at the expense of external threat and the picture of the development of personality via linear "phases" with "
regressionRegression, according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way...
" to fixed points accounting for psychological distress. Instead he posited that several lines of development were possible, the outcome of which depended on the interaction between the organism and the environment. In attachment this would mean that although a developing child has a propensity to form attachments, the nature of those attachments depends on the environment to which the child is exposed.
From an early point in the development of attachment theory, there was criticism of the theory's lack of congruence with the various branches of psychoanalysis. Bowlby's decisions left him open to criticism from well-established thinkers working on problems similar to those he addressed. Bowlby was effectively ostracized from the psychoanalytic community.
Internal working model
Bowlby adopted the important concept of the internal working model of social relationships from the work of the philosopher
Kenneth CraikKenneth James Williams Craik was a philosopher and psychologist who studied philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and received his doctorate from Cambridge University in 1940...
. Craik had noted the adaptiveness of the ability of thought to predict events and stressed the survival value of and natural selection for this ability. According to Craik, prediction occurs when a "small-scale model" consisting of brain events is used to represent not only the external environment, but the individual's own possible actions. This model allows a person to mentally try out alternatives and to use knowledge of the past in responding to the present and future. At about the same time that Bowlby was applying Craik's ideas to the study of attachment, other psychologists were using these concepts in discussion of adult perception and cognition.
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
homeostaticallyHomeostasis is the property of a system, either open or closed, that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition...
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.
Cognitive development
Bowlby's reliance on
PiagetJean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and philosopher, well known for his pedagogical studies...
's theory of cognitive development gave rise to questions about object permanence (the ability to remember an object that is temporarily absent) and its connection to early attachment behaviours. An infant's ability to discriminate strangers and react to the mother's absence seems to occur some months earlier than Piaget suggested would be cognitively possible. More recently, it has been noted that the understanding of mental representation has advanced so much since Bowlby's day that present views can be far more specific than those of Bowlby's time.
Behaviourism
In 1969, Gerwitz discussed how mother and child could provide each other with positive reinforcement experiences through their mutual attention and therefore learn to stay close together. This explanation would make it unnecessary to posit innate human characteristics fostering attachment. Learning theory, (behaviourism), saw attachment as a remnant of dependency and the quality of attachment as merely a response to the caregiver's cues. Behaviourists saw behaviours like crying as a random activity meaning nothing until reinforced by a caregiver's response; therefore frequent responses would result in more crying. To attachment theorists, crying is an inborn attachment behaviour to which the caregiver must respond if the infant is to develop emotional security. Conscientious responses produce security which enhances autonomy and results in less crying. Ainsworth's research in Baltimore supported the attachment theorists' view. In the last decade,
behaviour analystsChild development in behavior analytic theory has origins in John B. Watson’s behaviorism. Watson wrote extensively on child development and conducted research . Watson was instrumental in the modification of William James’ stream of consciousness approach to construct a stream of behavior theory...
have constructed models of attachment based on the importance of
contingentIn common usage a contingency is a conditional response plan made in preparation for various future circumstances including the unanticipated.In philosophy and logic, contingency is the status of propositions that are not necessarily true or necessarily false...
relationships. These behaviour analytic models have received some support from research and meta-analytic reviews.
1970s
In the 1970s, problems with viewing attachment as a trait (a stable characteristic of an individual) rather than as a type of behaviour with organising functions and outcomes, led some authors to the conclusion that attachment behaviours were best understood in terms of their functions in the child's life. This way of thinking saw the secure base concept as central to the logic and coherence of attachment theory and to its status as an organizational construct. Similarly, Thompson pointed out that other features of early parent-child relationships that develop concurrently with attachment security, including negotiating conflict and establishing cooperation, also must be considered in understanding the legacy of early attachments.
As the formulation of attachment theory progressed, critics commented on empirical support for the theory and for the possible alternative explanations for results of empirical research. Some of Bowlby's interpretations of James Robertson's data were rejected by the researcher, who reported data from 13 young children cared for in ideal rather than institutional circumstances during separation from their mothers. In the second volume of the trilogy,
Separation, published two years later, Bowlby acknowledged that Robertson's foster study had caused him to modify his views on the traumatic consequences of separation in which insufficient weight was given to the influence of skilled care from a familiar substitute. There was also critical discussion of conclusions drawn from clinical and observational work and whether or not they actually supported the tenets of attachment theory. For example, in 1984 Skuse based criticism on the work of Anna Freud with children from Theresienstadt, who apparently developed relatively normally in spite of serious deprivation during their early years. This discussion concluded that there was an excellent prognosis for children with this background, unless there are biological or genetic risk factors.
Bowlby's arguments that even very young babies were social creatures and the primary actors in creating relationships with parents, and Ainsworth's emphasis on the importance and primacy of maternal attunement for psychological development (a point also argued by
Donald WinnicottDonald Woods Winnicott was an English paediatrician, psychiatrist, sociologist and psychoanalyst.-Early life and education:...
), took some time to be accepted. Research in the 1970s by
Daniel SternDaniel N. Stern is a prominent psychoanalytic theorist, specializing in infant development. He is the author of a number of books on the subject, notably The Interpersonal World of the Infant .-Biography:...
on the concept of attunement between very young infants and caregivers, using micro-analysis of video evidence, added significantly to the understanding of the complexity of infant/caregiver interactions as an integral part of a baby's emotional and social development.
1980s on
Following the argument made in the 1970s that attachment should not be seen as a trait but as an organising principle with varying behaviours resulting from contextual factors, later research re-evalued the assumption that attachment is expressed identically in all humans cross-culturally. The research showed that though there were cultural differences, the three basic patterns, secure, avoidant and ambivalent, can be found in every culture in which studies have been undertaken, even where communal sleeping arrangements are the norm.
Selection of the secure attachment pattern is found in the majority of children across cultures studied. This follows logically from the fact that attachment theory provides for infants to adapt to changes in the environment and select optimal behavioural strategies. How attachment is expressed shows cultural variations which need to be ascertained before studies can be undertaken; for example Gusii infants are greeted with a handshake rather than a hug and securely attached Gusii infants anticipate and seek this contact. There are also differences in the distribution of insecure patterns based on cultural differences in child-rearing practices. The biggest challenge to the notion of the universality of attachment theory came from studies conducted in Japan where the concept of
amaeAmae is a Japanese word coined from the verb amaeru by Takeo Doi to serve as a noun, which he then used as a keyword to unlock, analytically, the behavior of a person attempting to induce an authority figure, such as a parent, spouse, teacher or boss, to take care of him...
plays a prominent role in describing family relationships. Arguments revolved around the appropriateness of the use of the Strange Situation procedure where amae is practiced. Ultimately research tended to confirm the universality hypothesis of attachment theory. Most recently a 2007 study conducted in Sapporo in Japan found attachment distributions consistent with global norms using the six-year Main & Cassidy scoring system for attachment classification.
Critics in the 1990s such as J. R. Harris, Stephen Pinker and
Jerome KaganJerome Kagan is one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology. He is Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology, Emeritus at Harvard University, and co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute...
were generally concerned with the concept of infant determinism (
nature versus nurtureThe nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature", i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...
) and stressed the possible effects of later experience on personality. Building on the earlier work on
temperamentIn psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learnt...
of Stella Chess, Kagan rejected almost every assumption on which attachment theory
etiologyEtiology is the study of causation, or origination. The word is derived from the Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" ....
was based, arguing that heredity was far more important than the transient effects of early environment. For example a child with an inherently difficult temperament would not elicit sensitive behavioural responses from a caregiver. The debate spawned considerable research and analysis of data from the growing number of longitudinal studies. Subsequent research has not borne out Kagan's argument and broadly demonstrates that it is the caregiver's behaviours that form the child's attachment style, although how this style is expressed may differ with temperament. Harris and Pinker put forward the notion that the influence of parents had been much exaggerated and that socialisation took place primarily in peer groups. H. Rudolph Schaffer concluded that parents and peers fulfilled different functions and had distinctive roles in children's development.
Biology of attachment
Attachment theory proposes that the quality of caregiving from at least the primary carer is key to attachment security or insecurity. The body of research supports this view. In addition to longitudinal studies, there has been
psychophysiologicalPsychophysiology the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes...
research on the biology of attachment, and research has begun to include behaviour genetics and
temperamentIn psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learnt...
concepts. Generally temperament and attachment constitute separate developmental domains, but aspects of both contribute to a range of interpersonal and intrapersonal developmental outcomes. There is some evidence that like attachment, the physiological mechanisms underlying temperamental differences are tuned by the social environment created by significant caregivers. It has been suggested that types of temperament, may make some individuals susceptible to the stress of unpredictable or hostile relationships with caregivers in the early years. In the absence of available and responsive caregivers it appears that some children are particularly vulnerable to developing attachment disorders.
In psychophysiological research on attachment, the two main areas studied have been
autonomic responseThe autonomic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system functioning largely below the level of consciousness, and controls visceral functions. The ANS affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils,...
s, such as heart rate or respiration, and the activity of the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axisThe hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis , also known as thelimbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis , is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among the hypothalamus , the pituitary gland , and the adrenal glands...
. Infants' physiological responses have been measured during the Strange Situation procedure looking at individual differences in infant temperament and the extent to which attachment acts as a moderator. Infants receiving low quality maternal caregiving behaviour (MCB) display significantly more fearfulness when presented with unfamiliar stimuli and significantly less sociability than infants receiving high MCB, despite comparable temperaments. It appears the quality of caregiving shapes the development of the neurological systems which regulate stress.
Another method used to ascertain the effects of caregiver behaviour is
EEGEEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
s to measure asymmetry of left and right
frontal lobeThe frontal lobe is an area in the brain of mammals. It is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobes and above and anterior to the temporal lobes...
activity. For example, in general, infants exhibit different asymmetries during positive or negative affect. Although there are no data directly assessing EEG differences in the prediction of attachment classification, there is evidence that insecurely attached infants of depressed mothers show greater reduction in frontal lobe activity than either infants of depressed mothers or insecurely attached infants.
Another issue is the role of inherited genetic factors in shaping attachments: for example one type of polymorphism of the DRD2
dopamine receptorDopamine receptors are a class of metabotropic G protein-coupled receptors that are prominent in the vertebrate central nervous system . The neurotransmitter dopamine is the primary endogenous ligand for dopamine receptors....
gene has been linked to anxious attachment and another in the 5HT2A serotonin receptor gene with avoidant attachment. This suggests that the influence of maternal care on attachment security is not the same for all children. One theoretical basis for this is that it makes biological sense for children to vary in their susceptibility to rearing influence.
Child care policies
Social policies concerning the care of children were the driving force in Bowlby's development of attachment theory. The difficulty lies in applying attachment concepts to policy and practice, as the importance of continuity and sensitivity in caregiving relationships is emphasised rather than a behavioural approach on stimulation or reinforcement of child behaviours. In 2008 C.H. Zeanah and colleagues stated, "Supporting early child-parent relationships is an increasingly prominent goal of mental health practitioners, community based service providers and policy makers...Attachment theory and research have generated important findings concerning early child development and spurred the creation of programs to support early child-parent relationships".
Historically, attachment theory had significant policy implications for hospitalised or institutionalised infants and children, and those in poor quality daycare. Controversy remains over whether non-maternal care, particularly in group settings, has deleterious effects on social development. It is plain from research that poor quality care carries risks and that those who experience good quality alternative care cope well although it is difficult to provide good quality, individualised care in group settings.
Attachment theory has implications in
residenceResidence is a term used to refer to not always similar concepts in various parts of English law including taxation, immigration, and family law. The remainder of this article deals exclusively with English family law...
and
contactIn family law, contact is one of the general terms which denotes the level of contact a parent or other significant person in a child's life can have with that child...
disputes, and in applications by foster parents to adopt foster children. In the past, particularly in North America, the main theoretical framework was psychoanalysis. Increasingly attachment theory has replaced it, thus focusing on the quality and continuity of caregiver relationships rather than economic well-being or automatic precedence of any one party, such as the biological mother. However, arguments tend to focus on whether children are "attached" or "bonded" to the disputing adults rather than the quality of attachments, although
RutterFor the motorcycle racer, see Michael Rutter Professor Sir Michael Rutter is the first consultant of child psychiatry in the United Kingdom. He has been described as the "father of child psychology"...
noted that in the UK, since 1980, family courts have shifted considerably to recognize the complications of attachment relationships. Research indicates children tend to have security-providing relationships with both parents and often grandparents and other relatives. Judgements need to take this into account along with the impact of step-families. Attachment theory has been crucial in highlighting the importance of social relationships in dynamic rather than fixed terms.
Attachment research and theory can also inform decisions made in
social workSocial Work is both a profession and social science. It involves the application of social theory and research methods to study and improve the lives of people, groups, and societies...
and court processes about
foster careFoster care is a system by which a certified, stand-in "parent" cares for minor children or young people who have been removed from their birth parents or other custodial adults by state authority....
and placement. Considering the child’s attachment needs can help determine the level of risk imposed by placement options. Within the field of adoption, the shift from "closed" to "open" adoptions and the importance of the search for biological parents would be expected on the basis of attachment theory and many researchers in the field were strongly influenced by it.
Clinical practice in children
Although attachment theory has become a major scientific theory of
socioemotional developmentDevelopmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and adult development,...
with one of the broadest, deepest research lines in modern psychology, attachment theory has, until recently, been less used in clinical practice than theories with far less empirical support.
This may be partly due to lack of attention paid to clinical application by
BowlbyJohn Bowlby was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory.- Family background :...
himself and partly due to broader meanings of the word 'attachment' used amongst practitioners. It may also be partly due to the mistaken association of attachment theory with the
pseudo-scientificPseudoscience is a methodology, belief, or practice that is claimed to be scientific, or that is made to appear to be scientific, but which does not adhere to an appropriate scientific methodology, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
interventions misleadingly known as
attachment therapyAttachment therapy is the most commonly used term for a controversial category of alternative child mental health interventions intended to treat attachment disorders. The term generally includes accompanying parenting techniques...
.
Prevention and treatment
In 1988 Bowlby published a series of lectures indicating how attachment theory and research could be used in understanding and treating child and family disorders. His focus was the parents' internal working models, parenting behaviours and the parents' relationship with the therapeutic intervenor to effect change. Ongoing research has lead to a number of prevention and intervention programmes and individual treatments. They range from individual therapy to public health programmes to interventions designed for foster carers. For infants and younger children the focus is on increasing the responsiveness and sensitivity of the caregiver, or if that is not possible, placing the child with a different caregiver. An assessment of the attachment status or caregiving responses of the caregiver is invariably included as attachment is a two-way process involving attachment behaviour and caregiver response. Some programmes are aimed at foster carers because the attachment behaviours of infants or children with attachment difficulties often do not elicit appropriate caregiver responses. Modern prevention and intervention programmes are mostly in the process of being evaluated.
Reactive attachment disorder and attachment disorder
There is an atypical attachment pattern considered to be an actual disorder, known as reactive attachment disorder or RAD. This is a psychiatric diagnosis (
ICD-10The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems10th Revision is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization...
F94.1/2 and DSM-IV-TR 313.89). The essential feature of reactive attachment disorder is markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness in most contexts that begins before age five years and is associated with gross pathological care. There are two subtypes, one reflecting a disinhibited attachment pattern and the other an inhibited pattern. RAD denotes a lack of age appropriate attachment behaviours amounting to a clinical disorder rather than a description of insecure attachment styles however problematic those styles may be. It is thought to be rare, despite the popularisation of the term "reactive attachment disorder" on the Web, in connection with the pseudoscientific attachment therapy, for perceived behavioural difficulties outside the DSM or ICD criteria.
Attachment disorder is an ambiguous term which may be used to refer to reactive attachment disorder, or the more problematical attachment styles (although none of these are clinical disorders), or within attachment therapy as a form of unvalidated diagnosis. It may also be used to refer to proposed new classification systems put forward by theorists in the field.
Clinical practice in adults and families
As attachment theory offers a broad and far-reaching view of human functioning it can enrich a therapist's understanding of patients and the therapeutic relationship rather than dictate a particular form of treatment. There are also forms of psychoanalysis-based therapy for adults within
relational psychoanalysisRelational psychoanalysis is a school of psychoanalysis in the United States that emphasizes the role of real and imagined relationships with others in mental disorder and psychotherapy....
and other approaches which incorporate attachment theory and patterns. In the last decade key concepts of child and adult attachment have become incorporated into existing models of behavioural couple therapy, multidimensional family therapy and couple and family therapy interventions. Specifically attachment centred interventions such as attachment-based family therapy and emotionally focused therapy for couples or families have also been developed.
Attachment theory and research laid the foundation for the development of the understanding of "
mentalizationMentalization is a psychological concept used by the psychoanalytic psychologist Peter Fonagy; he employs it to describe the ability to understand the mental state of oneself and others based on overt behaviour. Fonagy sees mentalization as a form of imaginative mental activity, which allow us to...
" or reflective functioning and its presence or absence or distortion in psychopathology, by psychologist and psychoanalyst
Peter FonagyPeter Fonagy, born in 1952, at Budapest, Hungary, studied clinical psychology at the University College London. He is Professor of Psychoanalysis and Director of the Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London, amongst other things, a training and supervising analyst...
and colleagues. The dynamics of an individual's attachment organization as well as their capacity for mentalization can play a crucial role in the capacity to be helped by treatment.
See also
- Attachment parenting
Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears, is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of the attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, the child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong...
- Cinderella effect
The Cinderella effect is a term used by psychologists to describe the high incidence of stepchildren being physically abused, sexually abused, neglected or murdered, or otherwise mistreated at the hands of their stepparents at significantly higher rates than their genetic counterparts...
- Family therapy
Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy and family systems therapy, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of interaction between family...
- Human bonding
Human bonding refers to the development of a close, interpersonal relationship between family members or friends. Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is not the same as simple liking. The term is from the 12th century, Middle English word band or band, which refers to something that...
Further reading
- Attachment & Human Development. Routledge: London.
- Infant Mental Health Journal. Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. WAIMH. (electronic):
External links