Bowlby s Theory Of Attachment - 1255 Words

Attachment refers to an affectional bond; a bond which is exclusive to an individual and cannot be exchanged to another. A particularly important bond is the emotional one between an infant and its primary care giver. When it comes to attachment it is often said that it is either down to nature or nurture. Nature is the belief that it is genetic based whilst nurture believes it is our environment and experiences. Bowlby focuses on the evolutionary argument for attachment. Bowlby’s theory can be sub categorized into 3 main components. First one being that the infant and the primary care giver are biologically programmed to form an attachment. Secondly being that this bonding will take place during a critical period, if not during that†¦show more content†¦(McLeod, 2007) ‘The idea of monotropy and hierarchy is supported by research into attachments formed by the Efe tribe of Congo. Efe women share the care of infants in the tribe and take turns to breast feed them, however the infants return to their natural mother at night and form a stable bond with the mother’. (Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment for A level psychology, no date).This again shows that the attachment between an infant and mother is more than just the mothers ability to feed their young, which in turn supports the view that it is nature based not nurture. Bowlby suggested that there is a critical period in which this attachment and bond needs to be formed. He believed that the infant should have continuous care from the primary care giver up until the infant has reached two years of age; he claimed that if this attachment is not formed or is broken, the infant could have long term cognitive, social and emotion complications. (McLeod, 2007) This is vital as social development refers to how a child interacts and relates to others, the child’s ability to initiate and maintain relationships. Emotional development refers to the ability to form relationships, and regulates one’s own emotions. Without being well balanced in