Bowlby's Theory Of Positive Attachment

There are many theories about the significance of positive attachment and how this affects child development. Two important figures in establishing theories of attachment are Harry Harlow and John Bowlby and by looking into their findings more deeply, we can see why attachments are so important to children and configure ways to promote more positive relationships amongst children and parents. Harlow is known for his psychological experiments involving infant monkeys to research the importance of caregiving and companionship. Harlow decided to investigate the mother-infant bond after observing monkeys taken into a nursery-replicated setting without a mother behaved differently to others remaining with their mothers. These monkeys held in

He found that meeting children’s physical needs alone was insufficient and they were mentally damaged from the absence of a caregiver. After investigating further into the children’s past experiences, he noticed a link between all their upbringings – they had all suffered early separation from their mothers. By observing children’s behaviour who had been separated from their families, Bowlby found three consistent phases that made up “separation anxiety”. The first stage is to protest; the child will cry, scream and kick at the action of their parent leaving and often cling onto them in an attempt to prevent it from happening. The child’s protesting then begins to stop and they appear calmer yet still upset. They refuse comfort from others and become withdrawn and uninterested in activities in what is known as the stage of despair. The final stage is detachment from their initial caregiver and show anger towards them if they return. The child will reject their caregiver as they begin to engage with other people again. There are features of Bowlby’s theory of attachment that suggest how children should be provided with the correct care and the results of when this isn’t present. He believed that children have an innate requirement to build attachments. He also believed that infants need to build one main attachment that will differ to other attachments made and argued that monotropy is present between mothers and their children. Babies will signal their main caregiver by crying and laughing, which the caregiver is to respond to if they have formed a positive, secure attachment. They will also use the person of their main attachment as a secure base to explore their surroundings away from and return to for comfort and reassurance. If an attachment has broken down or is non-existent, the results would lead to negative consequences such as