24th November 2023

Possible Etiological and Maintenance Mechanisms

Some of the previous research gives us an idea for the different mechanisms that might play a role in emotional development and the role between the caregiver and the child.

Imprinting

Imprinting is a special form of learning that occurs in a critical or sensitive period. Konrad Lorenz investigated the mechanisms of imprinting, where some species of animals form an attachment to the first large moving object that they meet.

He took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch out. Half of the eggs were then placed under a goose mother, while Lorenz kept the other half hatched in an incubator, with Lorenz making sure he was the first moving object the newly hatched goslings encountered. When the geese hatched, Lorenz imitated a mother duck’s quacking sound, upon which the young birds regarded him as their mother and followed him accordingly. The other group followed the mother goose. This imprinting process suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically.

Attachment

Bowlby’s attachment theory

John Bowlby suggested attachment as a lasting psychological connectedness between human beings. Attachment theory by Bowlby provides us with an understanding of the emotional bond that forms between the infant and their primary caregiver and their influences on their future relationships.

Children who maintain close relationships with their caregivers are more likely to receive comfort and protection, thereby increasing their survival abilities. This suggests attachment is essentially innate and adaptive, which means that every infant is born with a natural tendency to form an attachment with their caregivers as it helps with their survival and hence has an evolutionary advantage. This also influences their attachment abilities in their future relationships.

Stages of attachment

The 4 stages of attachment are:

Pre-attachment phase (Birth to 6 weeks) – In this stage, the baby recognises their mother but hasn’t formed an attachment to the mother and is not afraid of strangers.

Attachment in making phase (6 weeks to 6 / 8 months) – In this stage, the infant responds positively to a familiar caregiver and forms a sense of trust. They don’t protest when separated from their caregiver.

Clear-cut attachment phase (6 / 8 months – 18 / 24 months) – In this stage, the infant shows preferential attachment to their primary caregiver and shows distress when separated.

Formation of reciprocal making phase (18 / 24 months onwards) – In this stage, the infant is able to understand that caregivers will return. They become less dependent on their caregiver.

Ainsworth’s strange situation experiment

Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation experiment also threw light into the ways in which emotions and attachment develop in infants. The experiment had 8 pre-determined situations with 2 separation and 2 reunion episodes in the presence or absence of their mother and a stranger. It measured how a child responds to separations and reunions with the parent by their ability and willingness to explore, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and their reunion behaviour.

The attachment styles identified were insecure avoidant (type A), secure (type B), and insecure ambivalent/resistant (type C). It was concluded that they were formed by the earlier interactions with their mother.

References

• Lorenz, K. (1935). Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels. Der Artgenosse als auslösendes Moment sozialer Verhaltensweisen. Journal für Ornithologie 83, 137–215.
• Bowlby, J. (1988). Attachment, communication, and the therapeutic process. A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development, 137-157.
• Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.
• Bowlby J. Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1982;52(4):664-678. doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.1982.tb01456
• Mary D. Salter Ainsworth, & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, Exploration, and Separation: Illustrated by the Behavior of One-Year-Olds in a Strange Situation. Child Development, 41(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/1127388