The Schaffer and Emerson study has low population validity. The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working class families. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study. However, accuracy of data collection by parents who were keeping daily diaries whilst clearly being very busy could be questioned. A diary like this is also very unreliable with demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues.
Mothers are not lkely to report negative experiences in their daily write up. The study lacks historical validity. It was conducted in the s when gender roles were different — Now, more men stay at home to look after their children and more women go out to work so the sample is biased.
Psychologists have proposed two main theories that are believed to be important in forming attachments. Once the neutral stimuli which in this context is the mother present while the child is eating is consistently associated with an unconditioned stimulus and will eventually produce the same response.
The mother then becomes a learned conditioned stimulus and produces a conditioned response. This then results in the mother once seen by the infant gives the child a sense of pleasure which is a conditioned response. Operant conditioning was first investigated by Skinner and then further investigated by Dollard and Miller in regard of attachment and drive reduction theory which describes something that motivates behavior. This was then investigated as when an infant is hungry there is a drive to reduce the discomfort which happens as a result.
Once the child is fed this produces a feeling of pleasure which is positive reinforcement. Behavior which is rewarded by food is repeated and food becomes the primary reinforcer as it is associated with a reward and reinforces the behavior.
The person supplying the food which can be the mother or primary caregiver becomes a secondary reinforcer as they become the source of the reward.
Conclusively, the attachment occurs because the child associates the person who supplies the food with rewards and seeks them. The evolutionary theory of attachment e. The determinant of attachment is not food, but care and responsiveness. Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment monotropy and that the attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world.
The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences. This theory also suggests that there is a critical period for developing an attachment about 0 -5 years.
If an attachment has not developed during this period, then the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences, such as reduced intelligence and increased aggression. McLeod, S. Attachment theory.
Simply Psychology. Ainsworth, M. Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41 , The development of infant-mother attachment.
Ricciuti Eds. Attachments and other affectional bonds across the life cycle. Parkes, J. By ensuring that each of these avenues of connection are strong with our children, we fuel their natural inclination to follow our lead and cooperate with us. An infant begins the journey of attachment to the parent or caregiver through Proximity by touch, contact and closeness. As they grow and we send the message that we like to be around them, attachment gets stronger.
Around the age of two, a child adds Sameness. Their desire to be like us is an important element in their acquisition of language. It also helps the growing child—and adolescent—continue to feel connected to us when we emphasize interests or inclinations that we share with them. Connection deepens even more with the next stage: Significance. By letting our child know how he or she is special to us, we fortify the sense of closeness between us. Level five is fanaticism.
At this level, knowledge has total control over me and I have no awareness of my authentic self. I see myself only through this identity that I must live up to—and I see everyone in my life as the identity I have given them that they must live up to, as well. This blinding of perception is like the story of Don Quixote—a man so attached to his books of chivalry that one day he renames himself Don Quixote de la Mancha.
From then on, everything he sees is a distortion. He sees windmills as giants because he believes that if he sees giants then he is worthy of the name Don Quixote, but if he sees windmills then he sees the truth—that he is not Don Quixote de la Mancha.
When he finally sees that the windmills are really just windmills, he concocts a story about a magician changing the windmills to make him look bad. In other words, he tries to continue the illusion. When that happens, we then realize we have a choice. We can continue to believe our illusion or we can let go and allow ourselves to have the experience of being who we truly are without illusion. We are continually engaged and manifesting things within our own life as well as in our community.
The point of all this work is to enjoy life, which we do by accepting ourselves just the way we are. That allows us to love all people unconditionally. As creators, we can choose for our voice to manifest a nightmare or a beautiful dream. Which will you choose?
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