Attachment

Psychosocial development occurs as children form relationships, interact with others, and understand and manage their feelings. In social and emotional development, forming healthy attachments is very important and is the major social milestone of infancy. Developmental psychologists are interested in how infants reach this milestone. They ask such questions as: How do parent and infant attachment bonds form? How does neglect affect these bonds? What accounts for children’s attachment differences?

Researchers Harry Harlow, John Bowlby, and Mary Ainsworth conducted studies designed to answer these questions. In the 1950s, Harlow conducted a series of experiments on monkeys. He separated newborn monkeys from their mothers. Each monkey was presented with two surrogate mothers. One surrogate monkey was made out of wire mesh, and she could dispense milk. The other monkey was softer and made from cloth: This monkey did not dispense milk. Research showed that the monkeys preferred the soft, cuddly cloth monkey, even though she did not provide any nourishment. The baby monkeys spent their time clinging to the cloth monkey and only went to the wire monkey when they needed to be fed. Prior to this study, the medical and scientific communities generally thought that babies become attached to the people who provide their nourishment. However, Harlow (1958) concluded that there was more to the mother-child bond than nourishment. Feelings of comfort and security are the critical components to maternal-infant bonding, which leads to healthy psychosocial development.

Attachment theory was largely generated by psychologists, John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991). Bolwby defined attachment as the affectional bond or tie that an infant forms with the mother (Bowlby, 1969). An infant must form this bond with a primary caregiver in order to have normal social and emotional development. The caregiver must be responsive to the child’s physical, social, and emotional needs; and the caregiver and child must engage in mutually enjoyable interactions (Bowlby, 1969) (Figure 4). While Bowlby generated the overarching “tenets” of the theory, Ainsworth’s research provided opportunities to test the theory in action and helped “expand the theory itself.” Ainsworth contributed the “concept” of an attachment figure serving as a secure base. A secure base is a parental presence that gives the child a sense of safety as they explore their surroundings (Ainsworth, 1967). Bowlby agreed that this attachment bond is very powerful and continues throughout life. He used the concept of secure base to define a healthy attachment between parent and child (1988).

The Strange Situation

In her quest to understand the variations in the ways children form attachments, Mary Ainsworth (1970) devised the Strange Situation procedure to examine the bond between mothers and their infants. During the Strange Situation, a mother (or primary caregiver) and her 12-18-month-old infant are placed in a room together with toys. The caregiver and child spend some time alone in the room, allowing the child to explore. Then, a stranger enters the room, and shortly after, the mother leaves the baby with the stranger. After a brief period, the mother returns to offer comfort to her child.

Attachment Styles

Based on how the infants/toddlers responded to the separation and reunion in the Strange Situation experiment, Ainsworth identified three types of parent-child attachments: secure, avoidant, and resistant (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970). A fourth style, known as disorganized attachment, was later described (Main & Solomon, 1990).

Ainsworth identified three primary attachment styles that infants exhibit: secure attachment, characterized when a child responds “with joy” when caregiver returns; insecure-avoidant attachment, characterized by avoidance or indifference towards the caregiver; and insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment, wherein the children experience immense distress when the caregiver returns. These attachment styles have provided invaluable insights into the dynamics of attachment relationships and their significant impact on child development.

1. The most common type of attachment—also considered the healthiest—is called secure attachment. In this type of attachment, the toddler prefers his parent over a stranger. The attachment figure is used as a secure base to explore the environment and is sought out in times of stress. Securely attached children were distressed when their caregivers left the room in the Strange Situation experiment, but when their caregivers returned, the securely attached children were happy to see them. Securely attached children have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their needs.
2. With avoidant attachment (sometimes called insecure or anxious-avoidant), the child is unresponsive to the parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if the parent leaves. The toddler reacts to the parent the same way she reacts to a stranger. When the parent does return, the child is slow to show a positive reaction. Ainsworth theorized that these children were most likely to have a caregiver who was insensitive and inattentive to their needs (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978).
3. In cases of resistant attachment (also called ambivalent or anxious-ambivalent/resistant), children desire closeness to their attachment figure but also resist their attempts to interact. They may be reluctant to explore their environment due to fear and uncertainty. During separation, they show distress and anger, and upon reunion, they struggle to find comfort. This behavior stems from inconsistent caregiver responsiveness, contributing to the development of resistant attachment (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970).
4. Children with a disorganized attachment style display atypical behavior in the Strange Situation, including freezing, erratic movements, or attempts to run away when the caregiver returns (Main & Solomon, 1990). Disorganized attachment is commonly observed in children who have experienced abuse or unpredictable caregiving environments, which can disrupt their ability to regulate their emotions effectively.

While Ainsworth’s research has found support in subsequent studies, it has also met criticism. Some researchers have pointed out that a child’s temperament may have a strong influence on attachment (Gervai, 2009; Harris, 2009), and others have noted that attachment varies from culture to culture, a factor not accounted for in Ainsworth’s research (Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, & Morelli, 2000; van Ijzendoorn & Sagi-Schwartz, 2008).