John Bowlby Attachment Theory Essay

John Bowlby was the first scientist to use the term attachment (Custance, 2012), proposing a theory in the 1950’s to try and establish how and why attachment develops. Bowlby wanted to move away from the behaviourist approach that had gone before. Another influential name in the study of attachment was Mary Ainsworth who was member of John Bowlby’s research group in London at that time (Custance, 2012). After initial misgivings around Bowlby’s work, Ainsworth saw the relevance in mother/child studies, and decided to carry out her own research. After having two observational studies under her belt, the Strange Situation procedure was conceived, and this will be discussed next.
Mothers and infants between 1 and 24 months old were led to a room with toys and observed. Various stages of the study began. These consisted of episodes, 1 through 7, comprising of different scenarios involving a stranger who was introduced to the mother and infant (Custance, 2012). This was a controlled environment, which allowed the participants to be studied in a very efficient way. The findings of the study gave rise to three classifications. Ainsworth & Bell (cited in Custance, 2012) categorised these as follows; 70% of the children where secure – they were
happy exploring, anxious at mother’s exit, but were quickly comforted and would play again on her return. Next we had 15% of the children were anxious-resistant; reluctant to explore in mother’s company, upset on separation and nonplussed when she re-entered. Finally, 15% were classified as anxious-avoidant; not upset at mother’s absence, pulling away from her when she came back. Since this initial study a fourth category was added to those above. This is disorganised (Custance, 2012); indecisive and confused infants. These would act in odd ways, freezing and/or pulling their hair on separation indicating the possibility of neglect and abuse. There are, however, some misgivings about the study and these will be examined in the next paragraph.
One problem with the study may be that it may measure how the child is with the mother, in other words the relationship they have with each other, rather than the attachment type between the two of them.
There also seems to be no account taken of the mood the child may be in. maybe on that particular day they were tired, hungry or just in a plain old bad mood. This could give a skewed result. The child’s personality may be naturally friendly or difficult which could lead them to act more in one way than the other. Also, what if the child has some behavioural issues? Furthermore, the Strange Situation was created by an American studying American infants. In other countries children may act or have acted
differently.