CA1 - DEVPSYCH 4 (ATTACHMENT THEORIES)

Session 4 - Attachment Theories

Harry Harlow

*Studied how rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers and other monkeys

Monkey experiment

Study to determine whether nursing is the most important factor in attachment

Contact comfort

• Infants need for closeness and touching

• Foundation for attachment

John Bowlby

Proponent of the Attachment Theory

Attachment Theory

A child only forms attachment with one figure, and that this relationship will act as a prototype for all future relations of the child

Attachment

________________ is a primary drive and is reciprocal, enduring emotional tie between an infant and caregiver, each of whom contributes to the quality of the relationship

Principle of Monotropy

• Primary bond: Central Attachment

• An infant has a need to form an attachment with one significant person

Secure base

Presence that gives the child a sense of safety as the child explores

Dependency

• Reliance on another for basic physiological needs

• Not necessary for a strong attachment

• Not all lead to attachment

True separation distress

• Indicate a special bond

• Cannot be consoled

Mary Ainsworth

*A developmental psychologist who was predominantly known for her contributions to attachment theory, including the Strange Situation experiment

Strange Stituation

Determines the:

1. Behavior while caregiver is there

2. Behavior when the caregiver leaves

3. Behavior when the caregiver returns

Insecure Avoidant Attachment

ATTACHMENT STYLE

• Di inaaruga, di nasatisfy ang needs

• In their own world, in one corner

• Doesn’t care when caregiver leaves

• Doesn’t care when caregiver return

Secure Attachment

ATTACHMENT STYLE

• Satisfied ang needs

• Exploring

• Cries when caregiver leaves

• Delighted when caregiver return

Insecure Resistant/Ambivalent Attachment

ATTACHMENT STYLE

• Inconsistent care and natanggap

• Very clingy to their caregiver

• Extreme distress when caregiver leaves

• Mad at the caregiver when they return

Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment

ATTACHMENT STYLE

• Nakareceive ng inappropriate reactions from caregivers

• Inconsistent behaviors

Melanie Klein

• Object Relations Theory

• Less emphasis on biological, more on social

• Maternal intimacy, nurturing of mother

• Prime motive of behavior: Human contact and relatedness

Margaret Mahler

• An Object Relations Theorist

• Coined the term Psychological Birth

Psychological birth

When a child develops sense of identity separate from the caregiver

Heinz Kohut

Developed Self Psychology

Empathy

According to Kohut, children must receive adequate amount of ___________ from parents which will help them feel understood, validated, and emotionally held

Child narcissism

_____________ is normal and observed in children but when caregivers fail to respond empathically, traits under it may become rigid defenses, leading to fragile self-esteem or narcissistic personality structures later in life

Charles Darwin

Known for his Theory of Evolution through natural selection

Edward Osborne Wilson

*Biologist who explored altruism through evolution: first supported kin selection and reciprocal altruism

Kin selection

*Refers to natural selection favoring behaviors that increase the reproductive success of genetic relatives

*Inclusive fitness

Reservation of the gene, rather than the individual, as the focus of evolutionary psychology

Reciprocal Altruism

Evolutionary strategy where individuals help non-relatives with the expectation of future return

Urie Bronfenbrenner

Stated the contextual factors (cultural and social) or environmental systems are crucial to understanding the child’s development within the family

(5) Environmental Systems

• Microsystem

• Mesosystem

• Exosystem

• Macrosystem

• Chronosystem

Microsystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

• Setting where individual lives

• Plays an active role

• Immediate environment: family, school, peers, and daily interactions that directly shape the child’s development

Mesosystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

Relations between microsystems

Exosystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

• Setting where an individual does not play an active role

• Indirect environment, settings that affect the child but don’t involve them directly

Macrosystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

*Societal values, laws, customs, and ideologies that influence all other systems

Chronosystem

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

Environmental events, life transitions, sociohistorical circumstances that impact development over time