ipl-logo

Erikson's Theory Of Attachment

1826 Words8 Pages
Theories, Key Concepts, Principles, and Assumptions Two theories that will be discussed in this paper is Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development and John Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment. Erikson’s theory is considered psychosocial, emphasizing the importance of social and cultural factors within a lifespan, from infancy to later adulthood. Erikson’s theory is broken down into eight consecutive age-defined stages. During each stage, a person experiences a psychosocial crisis that contributes to their personality development. Erikson was highly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytical Theory of Development. Although, at first Freud was limited to childhood based on the phallic stage, Erikson focused on developing a lifespan theory. The eight stages are as followed: Trust vs. Mistrust (infancy): The basic and fundamental psychological task is for infants to develop a sense that their needs will be met by the outside world. Is their caregiver responsive, reliable, and willing to meet their needs? That basic trust is facilitated by a responsive caregiver once an infant gets hungry, injured, or needs to be changed. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and belief that the world is unpredictable and inconsistent. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (toddlerhood): Following infants’ understanding of a predictable environment, toddlers are starting to realize if they can depend on others. At this stage, toddlers are a step towards developing as an individual, in other
Show More
Related
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.

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

After an examination of Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson’s theories at first sight not much is alike, since the stages both differ, but digging deeper in Erikson's and Levinson’s theories have similar ideas in social development; after all, these two studies differ in the outcome. Erik erikson's theories have a greater underlining on child-adolescent development, he believes that early development of a child is the foundation and is the greatest impact on a person's identity and personality later on in life. Erikson presents the stages from childhood to adulthood, but in his theory the only significant development is during childhood, which is the problem, since an individual goes through life experiences throughout life they may have a great impact as an adult too. On the other hand Daniel Levinson’s theory signifies changes throughout all of life's experiences, from childhood to adulthood and continuing. Levinson’s theory believes that we adapt ad we let go of certain things as we move on in life and move from one stage to another.

Read More
178 Words | 1 Pages

John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth collaborated to develop Attachment theory (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991 cited in Bretherton 1992). Bowlby a psychoanalyst was instrumental in identifying an understanding of the ‘concepts of mental health and mental ill-health’ (Bowlby, 1951 cited in Blakely & Dziadosz 2015, p. 283). In addition, Bowlby asserted that psychopathology could be attributed to the lack of a mother–child relationship, although dependent on duration and method (Bowlby, 1951 cited in Blakely & Dziadosz 2015). Bretherton (1992), maintains that Bowlby formulated Attachment theory presupposing based on ethological hypothesis that separation from the mother or primary carer, the attachment figure, in the formative years resulted in attachment

Read More
3144 Words | 13 Pages

(Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental Stages) Psychosocial Theory: The term ‘psychosocial’ mean by comprising two terminologies from the word psychological (mind) and social (relationships). Erikson supposed that his psychosocial opinion is genetically predictable in shaping human development. The psychosocial arises in all kind of people. Erikson also state in his theory about ‘epigenesis’ and the ‘epigenetic principle’, which indicated the concept of significance to evolution (historical and upcoming) and genetics.

Read More
1679 Words | 7 Pages

Attachment theory is the combined work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991). John Bowlby formulated the basic principles of this theory to explain the emotional bond between infants and their caregivers (Fraley & Shaver, 2000). Bowlby explains that a motivational system, called the attachment behavioural system, I based on an evolutionary model which states that “genetic selection” preferred attachment behaviours, because they increased the likelihood of protection and provided survival gains, such as feeding, social interaction, and learning about the environment, while in close proximity to the attachment figure (Cassidy & Shaver, 2008). Further, Bowlby (1969) developed the idea of attachment to highlight the role

Read More
1080 Words | 5 Pages

The concept of attachment in the doctrine was introduced by English psychoanalyst John Bowlby (John Bowlby, 1907-1990). Attachment refers to the specific relationship formed between mother and child and lasts throughout life, as a permanent psychological link established between two people (Holmes, 2004). Regarding this, it should be pointed out that Bowlby was not the first one that observed and defined the relationship between mother and child. A decade before him, psychoanalysis as a condition of normal child development sets the continuous and a close relationship with the child 's mother. According to the psychoanalytic concept of the relationship of the child with the mother based on the fact that the mother provides the satisfaction of the

Read More
298 Words | 2 Pages

The third relationship between a child and parent is the ambivalent relationship. This type of relationship means a child “may be insecurely attached to his parents.” The characteristics that come with ambivalent children are, “often very clingy, tend to act younger than they really are and may seem over-emotional, might use baby talk or act like a baby when in preschool, love being the center of attention, often cry and get frustrated easily, get upset if people aren’t paying attention to them and have a hard time doing things on their own, seem to latch onto everyone for short periods of time, and have a very hard time letting parents go at the beginning of the day as the crying may last a long time.” (Lynette C. Magaña with Judith A. Myers-Walls and Dee Love n.d.).

Read More
1335 Words | 6 Pages

However, should the care be punishing or unpredictable, then the infant will develop a sense of mistrust and will not have confidence in the world around them or in their abilities to influence events. This infant will carry the basic perception of mistrust with them into other relationships. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and a feeling of mistrust in the world around them. Langley, T.

Read More
1990 Words | 8 Pages

For each stage, Erikson 's theory explains what types of stimulation children need to master that stage and become productive and well-adjusted members of society and explains the types of problems and developmental delays that can result when this stimulation does not

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

Erick Erikson’s Theory Erikson’s stages of psycho-social developments comprising a series of eight interrelated stages, this is where a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy until they reach their late adulthood. However, if an individual child had a terrible past, they might unable to cope with scenario’s that life present later. Per Erikson’s theory, he proposed that our lifespan model of psycho-social development, taking in five stages up until a child reached the age of nineteen years and other stages occurs through their adulthood.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

It also provides support for the lifespan approach that attachment doesn't just affect an individual for a couple of years but that it could affect them for their entire life, therefore this suggest that it is important to try and ensure parents spend as much time with their children as possible to ensure a secure attachment. Although this evidence is in favour of Bowlby’s theory, the methodology was based on a self-report questionnaire including questions that try to investigate childhood attachments through the participant’s own childhood memories. (Add citation) These answers may exhibit social desirability bias to make the participant seem securely attached, when they are actually insecurely attached or vice versa. This may imply that

Read More
432 Words | 2 Pages

The attachment theory was first suggested by John Bowlby in 1958. What led him to develop this theory was his work in a Child guidance clinic located in London. There he treated many emotionally unstable children . This led him to contemplate how important was a child’s relationship with their mother in terms of emotional, social and cognitive development. This raises a concern as “To what extent do attachment styles affect children’s social development?”

Read More
1762 Words | 8 Pages

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development Many researchers have tried to revise after Freud 's psychoanalysis, to show the value associated with the process and I have to follow their development (Kail, Cavanaugh, 2004). The most prominent of the so-called ego psychology was Erik Erikson. As with other postfreydistov for Erickson the greatest importance was the self and its adaptive capacity in connection with the problem of the individual. However, this does not mean that he neglected his theory of biological or social factors (Kail, Cavanaugh, 2004).

Read More
1120 Words | 5 Pages

Though, there are few similarities of Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory, the major differences of the stages and the developmental issues that are explained in both the theories. The reason for this is that each theorist believed in his own experiences and ideas for the development. The main differences are that while Freud’s theory is mainly developed on the psychosexual changes, Erickson’s theory describes the effects of social experiences on an individual during his or her lifespan (Flannagan, 1999). Freud's stages of psychosexual development consist of five stages. Freud's five stages only went to the age of eighteen, whereas Erikson believed that personality develops throughout the entire life of an individual and for this reason his eight stages go

Read More
1134 Words | 5 Pages

The life span of an individual goes through developmental stages in life, from conception to death. The majority of the stages we pass are biological, socio-economical and psychological birth rights. This essay will focus on the two stages, drawn from the eight stages of Erikson Theory, namely: Trust vs Mistrust and Generativity vs Stagnation. The essay will further discuss authoritative parenting and attachment styles. The eight stages which a healthy person should undergo from infancy to late adulthood, are built on the success of mastering the previous stage.

Read More

More about Erikson's Theory Of Attachment

Open Document