John Bowlby's Theory Of Attachment

Attachment was developed by Bowlby in the late 50’s. The way Bowlby and Ainsworth characterized attachment was by specific behaviors in children, like the children seeking proximity to the attachment figure when upset or threatened. There has to be a connections between the child and his/ her parents. This is because the attachment behavior in adults towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child’s needs.

The attachment theory in psychology originates with the work of John Bowlby. In the 1930’s he worked in a child guidance clinic in London as a psychiatrist, where he treated many emotional disturbed children. The children he treated, led him to consider the important of a child’s relationship with their mother

His father was around, but never gave him an actual father figure to look up to. I asked Oliver how his life was while growing up and he states “my mother wasn’t the only one who raised me, life raised me as well. I had to learn how to become the man of the house because my father was everywhere except in our home. He only came by to let my mother know he had another women by his side, to him this was normal. In our culture having kids with different women isn’t seen wrong. It’s seen more as in a guy is wealthy when they have more kids. Ive always told myself ill never be like my father”. I then asked Oliver how are his relationships, he says he actually enjoys being connected with a person. I found this statement interesting because Enrique was raised with both parents and doesn’t want to connect with people, and Oliver who was raised without a father figure, seeks that connections with people. While interacting with Oliver more, he commented that he wants to be nothing like his father, he doesn’t want other people to feel what he felt when his father walked out of his life. Oliver says that he prefers to be the hurt one rather than hurting people. The reason why he thinks the way he thinks is because of his mother, she has been there for him and pushed him towards the right path. Instead of neglecting like his father did, she played both mother and father. Though he does say that he wishes his father would one day apologize to them for the damage done. This research gave me a lot of information about how important it is for a child to have someone to connect with while being an infant. This research also answered the question I had at the start. Which is : Does it affect a persons relationship mentality, if they did not have an attachment figure while growing up. The answer to that based on past research and studies I’ve found is, yes. A child can grow up with anger and fear