Definition: Attachment is a powerful bond, particularly between a caregiver and a child in infancy, but can exist between any two people. Individuals can also have multiple attachments.
Focus of Research: Most early research focused on infants' attachment to their mothers, primarily because mothers traditionally provide the primary care.
Historical Context: Early theories on attachment by figures like Freud and Lorenz provided foundational ideas.
Theories of Attachment
Freudian Perspective
Mechanism: Freud suggested that attachment to mothers was primarily driven by the mother's role as the provider of food.
Reinforcement: This involves positive reinforcement for the infant (seeking the mother for nourishment) and negative reinforcement for the mother (the infant's crying stops when comforted and fed).
Connection: Freud linked this to his psychosexual stages of development.
Konrad Lorenz's Ethological Theory (Imprinting)
Animal Observations: Lorenz, studying animal behavior and its evolutionary basis, observed that newly hatched geese and ducks (