Attachment Theory

Attachment is an emotional bond that connects one person to another. It involves the study of human relationships and how they are formed (or not formed, in certain instances). Fahlberg (1994) defined attachment as “an affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through space and time and serves to join them emotionally”. The attachment theory suggests that there is a biological importance for infants to form attachments: it is imperative to their survival, especially at a young age. Similarly, this theory relates to the quality of the attachment formed in early childhood but also to the language, cognitive and moral development. Bowlby (1969) argued that humans have a biological need to create and maintain relationships. It is an
She created the “the strange situation” to explain individual differences in attachment. The strange situation followed a procedure that lasted 20-30 minutes long and contained a series of eight steps. First, the mother and baby entered the room and were alone, giving the infant a chance to explore its surrounding and the toys that were laid out for them. After a short while, a stranger enters the room and joins the mother and baby. The mother was then instructed to leave the room and leave the stranger and baby alone together. The mother returns and the stranger leaves. The mother leaves for the second time and the baby is left completely alone. Only the stranger returns to interact with the baby. Lastly, the stranger is instructed to leave and the mother returns for the final time and the experiment is completed. This procedure allowed Ainsworth to observe certain behaviours such as the amount of exploration the child engages in, the child’s reaction to the departure and return of its mother, and proximity and contact seeking. Having observed how a child reacts, Ainsworth has categorised each behaviour into three attachment types: secure, insecure avoidant, and insecure ambivalent. A fourth attachment was later discovered by Main and Solomon (1990) which was titled as “disorganised”. A securely attached child showed separation anxiety which was observed as distress when
Wolff & Van Ijzendoorn (1997) conducted a meta-analysis on this study and found that there is a relatively weak correlation of 0.24 between parental sensitivity and attachment type. This suggests that there are other factors which may better explain individual differences in attachment types and that the caregiver sensitivity hypothesis places too much emphasis on the mother’s behaviour. Kagan (1984) suggested an alternative theory that implies that the temperament of the child is what actually leads to the difference in attachment types. Children with innate different temperaments will naturally have different attachment types. This theory was supported by Fox (1989) who found that infants with an ‘easy’ temperament are likely to develop secure attachments as opposed to infants with a more ‘difficult’ temperament. Belksy & Rovine (1987) suggested an interactionist theory which argues that a child’s attachment is dependent on both the caregiver’s sensitivity and the child’s innate temperament. Additionally, a child’s innate temperament may influence the way their caregiver responds and the quality of this response. In order for a child to develop a secure attachment, a ‘difficult’ child would need a caregiver who is patient and