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The life of John Bowlby and his Attachment Theory Tiffany Sajtos 4 April 2013

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Tiffany Sajtos Tiffany Wright Ofeimu ECD 1404 4 April 2013 The life of John Bowlby and his Attachment Theory On February 27th, 1907 John Bowlby was born in London, England to an upper-middle class family. His parents believed that too much affection and attention from parents would spoil a child; therefore, his parents spent only a small amount of time with him every day. At age 7 he was sent to boarding school. Bowlby then attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied psychology and worked with delinquent children as well. After he graduated from Cambridge in 1928, He began his profession training at the British Psychoanalytic Institute as a child psychiatrist. He was trained in the neo-Freudian object-relations approach to psychoanalysis, which taught that childrens emotional disturbances were primarily a function of their fantasies generated by internal conflict. While embracing the psychoanalytic emphasis on the importance of the early years for childrens healthy emotional development, Bowlby felt that his approach neglected the importance of their actual early experiences with their parents (Prager Para1). In 1937 John Bowlby became a psychoanalyst, and shortly after he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WWII. In 1938, he married Ursula Longstaff and they had 4 children together. When the war was over he became a director of Travistock clinic where he focused his studies on the effects of mother-child separation. He then went on to become a mental health consultant for the World Health Organization in 1950. Bowlby was unsatisfied with the current psychoanalytic view that the childs love of mother derived from oral gratification, Bowlby

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embraced the ethological theories of Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen, which stress the evolutionary foundations of behavior as a source of explanation for mother-child attachment relationships (Prager, para3). Bowlbys attachment theory became a dominant principle of development by the 1980s. He retired in 1972, and continued his clinical studies of the attachment theory. Bowlby wrote several books; his last was completed shortly before his death in 1990. John Bowlby believed that the mother-child attachment has an evolutionary basis, promoting the childs survival by increasing mother-child proximity, particularly when the child is stressed or fearful. The mother thus serves as a secure base for the young childs exploration of the world (Prager para3). John Bowlby believed that looking after babies and young children is no job for one person. If a child is to be well taken care of, and the job be well done, and the caregiver is not to be too exhausted, then the caregiver needs a lot of assistance. Part of the attachment theory is the tie of a child to his mother is referred to as dependency, and in part preprogrammed set of behavior patterns which in the ordinary expectable environment develop during the early months of life and have the effect of keeping the child in more or less close proximity to his mother-figure (Bowlby 1969) He believed that every child that is born into this world is born with a set of pre-programmed behavior patterns that are organized cybernetically by the end of the first year. The studies done by Klaus and Kennel observed how mothers behave towards their newborn babies when they are free to do as they chose after delivery. They describe how immediately after her infant is born, the mother will pick him up and automatically begins stroking his face with her fingertips, the baby then quietens. Soon the mother moves on to touching the rest of the body with the palm of her hand, within five or six minutes, she is likely to put him to her breast, where the baby responds by eating. After a few weeks of mother

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spending time with her infant, every time the mom comes face to face with her baby, he welcomes her by animated facial expressions and excited movement of the hands and legs. Most mothers are sensitive and quickly attuned to her infants natural rhythms and by attending to his needs and focusing on his behavior, she discovers what suits him, and acts upon it. By doing this, she not only satisfies the baby, but also enlists his co-operation. Human infants, we can safely conclude, like infants of other species, are preprogrammed to develop in a socially co-operative way; whether they do so or not turns in high degree on how they are treated (Bowlby 1988). How a child is treated determines what type of a person they will grow up to be. They will develop characteristics of those he was around the most; he will develop a personality of the person he spent the most time with. John Bowlby as well as studying the attachment of children, also studied Loss: Sadness and Depression in young children. In many studies where a child was taken away from his mother, for the first week he acts out, screaming and throwing things, doing un-characteristic like things. However, sooner or later, despair sets in, the child becomes withdrawn, the despair only ceases briefly for a cry. He is in a state of misery. If a child is taken from his mother at this age, when he is so possessively and passionately attached to her, it is indeed as if his world had been shattered. His intense need of her is unsatisfied and the frustration and longing may send him frantic with grief (Bowlby 1980). There are four pathological variants of mourning: Unconscious yearning for the lost person, unconscious reproach against the lost person mixed with conscious self reproach, compulsive caring for others, and persistent disbelief that the loss is permanent- denial. There are studies of how a child reacts when he is reunited with his mother after days or weeks of not seeing her. In most cases, on meeting their mother for the first time after the time away, the children showed some form of detachment. Some children didnt even

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recognize their mom, most walked or even ran away from her. Most children cried, and some alternated between crying and an expressionless face. In contrast to the reaction the children had to their mother, almost all of the children responded affectionately when they first met father again. The studies also proved that the longer the duration of the child away from their mother, correlated with how long the child remained detached from her. Bowlby followed some leads by Freud. When discussing the traumatic psychological aspect of loss of a loved one, this is what Freud believed. The experience of grief represents a departure from the state considered representative of health and well being. It involves suffering, and impairment to function, which may last for days, weeks, or even months. The processes of mourning can thus be likened to the process of healing that follow a severe wound or burn (Bowlby 1980). Such healing processes may take a course that leads to full or nearly full, function being restored; or they may take one of many courses, each of which leads to different functions. Some may lead to a renewal of the ability to love, or they may take a course that leaves this function impaired more or less than the original functional state. No clear facts can be made about what may appear to be restoration of function can often hide an increased sensitivity to further traumatic experiences. Bowlby researched and studied cognitive development. He studied many Early childhood theorists including Piaget, and Bower. The work of Bower, whose imaginative experiments have led him not only strongly to support Piagets concepts but also to elaborate and clarify them. Bowers work suggests that during the first year of life an infant is appreciably more advanced in his cognitive development that Piaget initially supposed and much other work also points in that direction (Bowlby 1980). Piaget was the first to discover that an infant does not make any attempts to search for an object that disappears in front of them, until about six months

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old. Before that age, not only does the infant not search for the object, he also acts as if it is a new object when it appears again. Therefore, out of sight, truly is, out of mind. Bower suggests that this is due to the fact those infants five months and younger can only identify objects by one of two characteristics: it stays in the same place, or it follows a consistent trajectory. From about five months on, infants begin to notice colors, sizes, and shapes. This is object permanence. Example, When an infant of six months is placed with his mother sitting out of sight behind him and is then confronted with a strange object he behaves as though his mother were not there. When, in contrast, an infant of twelve months is placed in the same situation he habitually turns around to refer to her before deciding how to respond (Bowlby 1980). When reading about John Bowlbys attachment theory, I made connections back to my own childhood. I am the second oldest of six children. My older sister is my half sister; we have the same dad, but different moms. When I look at how I behaved growing up vs. how she did, there is a drastic difference. I was raised by both parents, never changed through my entire life; she, however, was raised by my mother because her mom did not want her. She would visit her mom every other weekend, and every time she returned from the weekend, she had a horrible attitude and always tried to get my parents to argue over something. She had a bitterness towards my mother and myself (however, not towards any of my other siblings) that is still there today. When reading Bowlbys theories on Loss: Sadness and Depression, I saw how his observations and studies had the same or similar characteristics of my sister. It really showed me how important it is to have a consistent childhood. My sister, to this day, has an attitude problem, always has to get what she wants, has a hard time depending on anyone, has a hard time loving people as well as realizing people love her, and she prefers to be alone. While I, on the other hand, love being with my family, and would spend time with my mom, dad, and siblings

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everyday if I had the time. She rarely comes around family, and I never get enough. My mom stayed at home with me all during my childhood, and we today, are still very close. I asked her to be my maid of honor at my wedding because she is closer than any friend has ever been. I feel like that attachment to your mom, is the most important thing in early childhood. You can spend a little time with dad everyday and be okay, but mom should be there all of the time. I see all of the aspects of Bowlbys attachment theory, every day at the childcare center I work at. However; reading his books, made me realize I need to do more with these infants I care for everyday. From the time the infants are dropped off, to the time they are picked up, there is no reminding them of mom and dad. The one thing I want to try to do in my room, is to get pictures off all the parents, some of them alone, some of them holding their babies, some of siblings, and anyone they see on a regular basis and post them around the room. Or print them onto fabric books so the infants can play with them. I think it is important for them to see pictures of mom or dad and to know that they will be back to pick them up. They need the consistency not only from their parents, but from their caregivers as well. I will try to do better at this.

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Works Cited 1. Bowlby, John. A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. Great Britain: Routledge, 1988. Print. 2. Bowlby, John. Attachment. New York: Basic Books, 1969,1962. Print. 3. Bowlby, John. Loss: Sadness And Depression. New York: Basic Books, 1980. Print. 4. Cherry, Kendra. John Bowlby Biography (1907-1990). About.com 5. Prager, Karen J. John Bowlby (1907-1990). University of Texas of Dallas.