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Ainsworth Attachment Theory

554 Words3 Pages

Bowlby, Harlow, and Ainsworth each had unique positions on infant attachment and adult relationships. All three researchers pointed out that children become attached or unattached depending on the amount and type of love and affection they receive from birth. Each had a different way of creating their study. Harlow used baby monkeys taken from their mothers and replacing mom with either a metal or a terry cloth covered mom. His studies showed that the babies sought the comfort of the terry cloth mom monkey no matter which mom fed them. This study to me, would have been better, had he added one more element, such as a real live female monkey, the baby monkey would have most likely preferred the touch, feel and communication she provided, …show more content…

(Carpenter and Huffman, 2013 p.278) In her studies of infants, she placed the mother in a room with the child (securely attached), then introduced a stranger to the child(anxious/ambivalent), then the mother would leave the room leaving the stranger with the child(anxious/avoidant), then mother would return (disorganized/disoriented attachment). Observations of the child's reactions towards the mother and stranger in each of these segments were analyzed. From this, Ainsworth was able to conclude the bonding the child had toward their mother. The more attached the child, the more they responded to the mother coming and going, either by clinging, crying or following. This research gives to wonder, are we doing harm when sending our young children to the sitter or school expecting them to act like they don't care when we leave? The other alternative? A bunch of crying, clinging children with separation anxieties being brought up in society. In the argument nurture vs. nature, both of these scientists have shown that nature needs nurture and that attachment is a product of

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175 Words | 1 Pages

1-Which of the following theories suggests that the mother becomes an attachment object because she reduces the baby’s primary drive of hunger: a) Psychoanalytic Theory b) Cognitive Developmental Theory c) Learning Theory d) Ethological Theory 2-One of the phases in early development of attachment, Attachment in the making, occurs during the ages: a) 7-24 months of age b) 0-2 months of age c) 24 months on d) 2-7 months of age 3-Which of the following refers to separation protest, wariness of strangers, and intentional communication: a) Preattachment b) Attachment in the making c) Clear-cut attachment d) Goal-corrected partnership 4-Which of the following classifications indicates a child who actively avoids and ignores parent on reunion with

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Mary Ainsworth's Attachment

198 Words | 1 Pages

Attachment is a crucial part of a babies first year of life, Mary Ainsworth investigated weather the quality of attachment matters to a child's well being and also if some attachments are better than others. Ainsworth carried out her experiment which is known as "strange situation" The aim of this was to test how strong attachments were. During the experiment Ainsworth focused on the babies reactions during each part these included Parent and baby in a room, baby free to explore room whilst parent remains inactive, stranger joins parent and baby, Parent leaves room, Parent returns settles baby and stranger leaves, Baby is alone in the room, Stranger returns and interacts with the baby, Parent returns to the room and stranger leaves. During

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945 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the field of psychology we have learned the results of each psychological experiment and their results, which played an important role in the field. One significant study that changed our perspective about attachment was the Harlow’s Monkeys Experiment (1958) where Harlow wanted to study the mechanism between the newborn monkeys and their mothers, who they would be, analyze of how their bond is created. According to McLeod (2015) from the simply psychology website, the author says, “The behavioral theory of attachment would suggest that an infant would form an attachment with a carer that provides food. In contrast Harlow’s explanation was that attachment develops as a result of the mother providing “tactile comfort”, suggesting

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Mary Ainsworth's Theory Of Attachment

702 Words | 3 Pages

According to Mary Ainsworth's’ theory of attachment, I believe that as Wilbur’s primary caregiver, Fern is the mother Wilbur never had that he has developed a secure attachment with. “Every morning after breakfast, Wilbur walked out to the road with Fern and waited with her till the bus came. She would wave good-bye to him, and he would stand and watch the bus until it vanished around a turn. While Fern was in school, Wilbur was shut up inside his yard. But as soon as she got home in the afternoon, she would take him out and he would follow her around the place” (White, Chapter 1, Page 10).

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831 Words | 4 Pages

The overall mean of the infant attachment styles percentages calculated by Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg for their meta-analysis corroborated with Ainsworth’s results. However, the results obtained by Takahashi, who performed experiments on Japanese infants deviated from Ainsworth’s results despite the fact that both experimenters asked middle-class families with 12 to 18-month-old infants to participate with the only difference being their cultures, the independent variable. As an explanation, Durrett, Otaki, and Richards pointed out that according to Japanese cultural norm, infants and their mother would rarely separate, which resulted in the removal of the “infant-alone” stage in 90% of the trials. When they attempted the Procedure again with modern Japanese families where mothers leave their infants at home for work, the outcomes supported Ainsworth’s

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307 Words | 2 Pages

Although we are studying theories, some of them appear to explain human behavior and personality with certain accuracy. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth theories of attachment can also explain what happens to people when attachment to their parents or caregivers is healthy or potential problems that could occur due to detachments. They suggest that individuals raised with secure attachments to their primary caregivers help them to feel secure; moreover, these children appear to be more socially skilled and less likely to experience major emotional disturbances. However, failure to form healthy attachments, especially mother-child, could serve as a descriptive mechanism for many negative psychological outcomes later in the life of an individual,

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443 Words | 2 Pages

Babies are born with an innate ability to learn and their brain to develop after birth. The neural pathways of a human’s brain are built based on their early experience in the world. A baby’s world is based on how they are treated by people in it therefore if the environment is scary then the baby will be reluctant to explore, as demonstrated n Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The brain and body become wired enough to understand what is safe and what should be feared. The birth to 3 years of a child’s life is a critical period for the brain during child development and any deprivation during this will result in persistent deficits in cognitive, emotional and even physical health.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Theories (Erikson & Attachment) According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, trust vs. mistrust, occurs in the first year of life. Erikson believed that the caregiver’s response to the infant’s cries help them develop a sense of trust, when the caregiver responds right away to the infant’s distress of crying or fussing (Mooney, 2000). Erikson believed that in the earliest years of life, mainly during infancy, patterns of trust or mistrust are formed that control, or at least influence, a person’s actions or interactions for the rest of life (Erikson, 1950). Bowlby hypothesized that children are born with a predisposition to be attached to caregivers and that children will organize their behavior and thinking in order to maintain those relationships (Bettmann, 2006).

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1826 Words | 8 Pages

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1650 Words | 7 Pages

This test observed patterns in the infants’ experiences of separation and reunion with their mother, and their reaction to a stranger, in order to evaluate the type of attachment relationship the infant shared with their mother (Ainsworth, 1978). Ainsworth found a significant consistency between the mothers’ interactive styles and the reactions of the infants. The results of this test led Ainsworth to classify the behaviours into three main categories. She identified the infants to have secure attachment, or one of two forms of insecure attachment, avoidant or ambivalent (Music,

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890 Words | 4 Pages

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785 Words | 4 Pages

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1810 Words | 8 Pages

It was an experiment used to observe the different attachment styles shown by mothers and infants. Adults do not need a test because they can easily be interviewed, they are able to say what they feel or what they experienced. Infants are not able to do this, thus an experiment was conducted. 100 middle class American families were part of the experiment. The infants in the experiment were 12 to 18 months old.

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1137 Words | 5 Pages

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