John Bowlby Attachment Theory Essay

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John Bowlby drew on ideas from animal studies, psychology and psychoanalysis to develop what is known as attachment theory. Babies and people who care for them usually form close bonds. As the baby is fed, held, enjoyed these emotional, loving relationships develop and deepen. Babies who find that adults who respond quickly to their cries become trusting of life and are securely attached in stable, warm relationships. They know that they will be fed, changed, comforted etc. Babies and parents who do not make close emotional bonds experience general difficulty in forming stable, warm and loving relationships. Bowlby looked at: • How babies became attached to the mother figure (attachment). • What happens when babies are separated from the …show more content…

When babies are calmed by being comforted or fed, the brain’s stress-response systems are turned off. Babies’ brains begin to create the network of cells that help them learn to self-regulate. Developing secure attachments is a process that is supported by a caring and nurturing environment. Babies and young children make emotional attachments and form relationships that lay the foundation for future mental health and well-being. Attachment relationships are particularly important and have far reaching effects on the development of personal, emotional, social and cognitive skills. In the first few months of life babies make attachments with their primary carers. Secure attachments form the basis of all the child’s future relationships. Because babies experience relationships through their senses, it is the expression of love that affects how they develop and that helps to shape later learning and behaviour. Children who are securely attached tend to be more inquiring, to get along better with other children and to perform better in school than children who are less securely attached. Child who have formed secure attachment tend to cope better with stressful

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