Child Development And Childhood Development

The security of attachment in infants was investigated by Mary Ainsworth in the 'strange situation' study, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviours and styles of attachment. In the ‘strange situation’, infants and their mothers were observed in a range of situations, which allowed the researcher to see the different types of behaviours shown.

Ainsworths ‘strange situation’ was developed as a tool to measure types of attachment in infants. The experiment was carried out in a purpose build playroom and children were observed with cameras. It consisted of several situations, standardised for all those who took part. Each condition involved variation of the presence of the mother and/or a stranger, over 3 minute intervals. During these different conditions, the child’s behaviour was monitored, assessing their exploratory behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation protest and reunion behaviour. From her study, Ainsworth identified three types of attachment, these were: secure, insecure- avoidant and insecure-resistant, she

Mary Ainsworth is known for her ‘Strange Situation’ (Custance 2010) studies with children. Her theory was that the quality of an infant’s attachment depends largely on the kind of attention the infant has received. She observed the attachment styles of children, mostly aged between 12 and 24 months, by placing them in an environment and recording their reactions to their mothers (or primary caregivers) leaving the room and then returning. Based on these observations Ainsworth concluded that there are different types of attachment. Three types of attachment are: ‘anxious-avoidant’, where the child shows little upset with the stranger, but will avoid contact with the parent on their return. The ‘securely attached’ child is one that will show moderate levels of proximity seeking towards the parents and is upset by their departure but deals with the parents return positively, often returning to play. The third type is the ‘anxious-resistant’ child; greatly upset by the parent’s departure and on reunion seems angry and will not be comforted or picked up (Custance 2010).

Theories about the bond between the child, its primary caregiver and its impact on child development had been numerous over the 20th century, yet nothing of scientific foundations could be said with regard to child-parent relationships and its effects, be they positive or negative. This was until John Bowlby developed his theory about attachment and Mary Ainsworth developed a method for assessing infant attachment, the strange situation. The strange situation has influenced our understanding of the importance of attachment between a child and its primary caregiver by giving us perspective on how the type of care given up to the first 18 months can set a precedent on the

Bowlby’s work on attachment theory shows infants treated well develop a secure attachment. Hence they have a good foundation for healthy self-esteem, behavior, and future relationships (Barnet, Ganiban, & Cicchetti, 1991). If the infant develops an insecure bond with the caregiver, they may develop mental disturbances (Cicchetti, Ganiban, & Barnett, 1991). Mary Ainsworth, Bowlby’s contemporary, applied Bowlby’s theory in her research. In 1978, Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall, created the strange situation technique to study one year old infant attachments (as cited in Colonnesi et al., 2011, p.631). Results of their analysis led to three categories of attachment. They distinguished a secure (B), an insecure avoidant (A), and insecure ambivalent attachment (C)

Mary Ainsworth, a psychologist, was most famous for her research and explanations of the differences between attachments. Mary Ainsworth made an assessment called ‘Strange Situations Classification;’ this was used to investigate how attachments vary. This assessment was used to observe the variety of attachment forms displayed between mothers and their child. The assessment is set up in a small room with one way glass so the behaviour of the infant can be observed. Infants were aged between 12 and 18 months.  The sample comprised about 100 middle class American families. The assessment was observed for seven, three minute episodes, which are: 1) Parent and infant alone. 2) Stranger joins parent and infant. 3) Parent leaves infant and stranger alone. 4) Parent returns and stranger leaves. 5) Parent leaves; infant left completely alone. 6) Stranger returns. 7) Parent returns and stranger leaves. During these episodes the child was observed for: separation anxiety, the infants’ willingness to explore, stranger anxiety and

In order to determine an infant’s attachment type, Ainsworth established an experimental study known as, “Strange Situation” (Berger, 2014, p.144). This study was an experiment off of Bowlby’s findings that suggest attachment “related behaviors, are activated in times of personal distress” (Bernier, Larose, & Whipple, 2005, p. 172). Therefore, within this study, an infant’s attachment was determined by studying their behavior and level of distress within a new environment at the absence or presence of their caregiver. Additionally, Bernier represents the results of Larose and Boivin’s 1998 study that express a possible correlation between “Strange Situation” and the transition from high school to college (Bernier et al., 2005, p. 173) as both

Attachment serves the purpose of promoting closeness between infants with their adult caregivers who are responsible for comforting, nurturing and protecting them (Breidensteine, Bailey, Zeanah & Larrieu, 2011). Bowlby (1958) developed attachment theory to explain young children’s behaviours in ethological terms, positing that infants have developed an adaptive system directed towards their adult caregivers to elicit attention and care (Del Giudice, 2009). These biological driven behaviours, such as crying or clinging to a recognised and consistent caregiver

Researchers have replicated Ainworths and Wittig’s (1969) Strange Situation experiment, using the results for further research. Kochanski (2001) investigated development in children with differing attachments through a longitudinal study. During ages 9 to 33 months, the bond between infant and caregiver clearly impacted on the infants’ emotional development. 54% of infants were initially found to have a secure attachment with their primary caregiver, and were very distressed during separation. However, at 33 months emotions were calmer, and became less angry. Conversely, 46% of the infants were described as insecurely attached. Both resistant and avoidant were most fearful and least joyful. Further, negative emotions increased by age 33 months. 2% of infants where unclassifiable as they became increasingly angry as more negative emotions developed.

This essay sets out to discuss important developments of the attachment theory since the time of John Bolwby. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, to help them survive. He believed that attachment behaviors are instinctive and are activated by any conditions that seem to threaten the achievement of proximity, so separation, insecurity and fear (McLeod, 2007). The first development to be discussed comes from Mary Ainsworth, a former student of Bolwby’s. In the 1970’s Ainsworth developed a procedure, The Strange Situation, to assess the quality of a child’s attachment to their caregiver. Secondly, The Adult Attachment Interview developed shortly after the strange situation by a former student of Ainsworth’s, Mary Main. This looked at the attachment of the adult and the correlation between the adult’s attachment and their child’s. Finally, Edward Tronick’s Still Face Experiment first presented in 1975. This helped look at individual differences in attachment style through a procedure of a baby interacting with the caregiver and then the baby’s reaction to a non-responsive, emotionless caregiver, then most importantly the reaction of the baby when there is reparation from the mother.

Attachment is the method through which people acquire specific positive and close emotional bonds with others. In mature relationships, people may be equal attachment figures. However, this is not the case in a relationship between the child and parent. The child-parent attachment is a tie based on a need for safety, security and protection, paramount during infancy and childhood when the developing individual is undeveloped and weak. As a result, infants unconsciously attach to their caregivers. This paper will further discuss the importance of early emotional attachment in development as well as progressive concepts and empirical foundations.

The parent-child relationship is critical to attachment theory. The quality of care provided by the parent functions to influence the child’s confidence in the availability of the parent and the qualitative organization of the parent-child relationship (Turner, 2005). Under the conditions when the child’s reaction to a sense of threat may be especially intense, the patterns indicative of the attachment relationship are revealed (Turner, 2005). The infant is innately programmed to emit stimuli, such as smiling and clinging, which in return the mother responds to (Hutchinson, 2013). According to Hutchinson (2013), the exchange between the infant and mother creates a bond of attachment depending on the response of the mother. Attachment between

Attachment exploration and behavior are in balance view, and a biological importance of each is discussed. The illustration of this concept is conducted through a study where 56 white are reported, middle-class infant, and age of 49-51 weeks, in the strange situation. Mother’s presence was again found exploratory

Attachments are intrinsic to a child’s development both in the short term and for the duration of their lives. Infants have an innate need to develop an attachment with their mother to ensure their survival and are equipped with evolutionary characteristics called social releasers; physical social releasers such as large eyes and a small chin are found to be more aesthetically pleasing to the parents so they are more likely to care for them and behavioural social releasers for example, crying; very young infants typically only cry if they 're hungry, cold or in pain (Gross 2015 p535) this alerts the parents to an infants immediate need. At around 7 or 8 months of age children begin to make specific attachments for reasons other than survival, children display proximity maintaining behaviour normally with the mother,

Attachment theory is a concept that explores the importance of attachment in respect to direct development. “It is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space” (Bowlby, 1969; McLeod, 2009). It is the relationship that develops within the first year of the infant’s life between them and their caregiver. The theory also relates to the quality of the attachment that is shown in the behavior of the infant (Rieser-Danner, 2016). Attachment theory shows that infants need a close nurturing relationship with their caregiver in order to have a healthy relationship. Lack of response from the caregiver