4.1 - Introduction to attachment theory

Question 1

Who formulated the attachment theory ?

Answer 1

John Bowlby, British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1907 - 1990)

Question 2

What’s attachment theory about ?

Answer 2

• Children are predisposed to become attached to their caregivers, and these relationships are vital to the child’s survival and to his social and emotional development
• The infant seeks proximity to an attachment figure in stressful situations
• Parental responses lead to the development of patterns of attachment
• Those patterns lead to internal working models that guide the individual’s feelings, thoughts and expectations in later relationships.

Question 3

How did Bowlby became interested in attachment ?

Answer 3

• Worked with maladjusted boys : observed that disruptions in the mother-child relationship are precursors of later psychoapathology
• Observed that infants separated from their mothers experience intense distress, even if fed and cared for by others
• Commissionned by the WHO to write a report on the mental health of homeless children in post-war Europe

Question 4

What were Bowlby’s theoretical inspirations ?

Answer 4

• Dissatisfied with pshychoanalytical theory (in which infants’ internal lives were determined by fantasy rather than real life events)
• Inspired by evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, cognitive science, control systems theory.
• Especially inspired by ethology (Harlow and Lorenz) : animals and human infants become attached to peopple who do not feed them.

Question 5

What studies did Mary Ainsworth conduct ?

Answer 5

Two pioneering observation studies of mothers and infants at home

Question 6

What did Mary Ainsworth create ?

Answer 6

The strange situation : an assessment tool, a laboratory procedure for children between 12 and 18 months old to study the balance of attachment and exploratory behavior.

8 brief episodes of interaction, separation, reunion, with infant, parent and a stranger

Infant behavioral organization seen especially during REUNION : REFLECTION OF HIS / HER EXPECTATIONS REGARDING PARENTAL BEHAVIOUR

Question 7

What are the four attachment patterns ?

Answer 7

• Secure
• insecure-avoidant
• insecure-ambivalent
• disorganized

Question 8

What did Main and Solomon develop ?

Answer 8

The Adult Attachment Interview protocol :

• interview-based method of classifying a parent-s state of mind with respect to attachment
• 16-question interview to describe parents early experiences with their parents
• strong association with the infant’s behavior during the strange situation

Question 9

What’s the link between attachment and psychopathology ?

Answer 9

Attachment patterns are only protective or risk factors for the developement of later psychopathology.

Question 10

Which areas of life can be affected by attachment behavior ?

Answer 10

• Peer relationships at all ages,
• romantic and sexual attraction
• responses to care needs of infants or sick and elderly