Essay On Attachment Theory

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A theory that can relate to today’s society and the way people behave is the attachment theory. It refers to the strong emotional and physical bond between an infant and a caregiver which is essential to personal development. As part of the attachment theory there are three attachment styles. First is secure which refers to the infant having a strong relationship with its caregiver, almost as if they seem to be clingy. Second is avoidant in where the child is negligent as the child has learned to be self sufficient. Then there is anxious or ambivalent, the state in where the infant is emotionally unsure about what to feel for the absence and presence of their caregiver. They can be clingy and self sufficient at times. The infant begins …show more content…

After ten to twelve months most infants progress to a third stage of separate attachments. They are more open to interact with other people that are not their caregiver. This is known due to Ainsworth and Bowlby experiment. In where children with varying degrees of attachments to their parents were placed in a room with their caregiver filled with toys. A stranger comes in to interact with the infant and the caregiver leaves for a moment. Depending of the type of attachment that the child shows to have they will transmit that behavior toward the stranger. In the article, “Yes, It’s your parent’s fault” by the NY times, the writer Kate Murphy, explains her opinion that although we live in a self reliance and independent world, humans tend to seek for companion and suffers in isolation. The article also specifies how infants that grow to have a secure attachment have an advantage. If they ever have a distress they will find it easier to turn to someone for help. In the …show more content…

Regarding the styles of attachment that Murphy explains are reasonably correct. As she also mentions the experiment, Strange situations directed by Ainsworth and Bowlby, in where real life infants and their caregivers participated to observe the behavior that children with different attachment styles choose to react with their parents and strangers. This article also provides clear and useful information to the general public. Whether it is their children or themselves it could be important to identify what could be causing one’s behavior as explained by Murphy in her article. It provides an option to what could be causing the behavior of children’s behavior to their parents on why they seem to be distant from their parents or others around them. It is also helpful to the general public to be able to identify the type of attachment they might have. Overall, this article gives enough information about what is the attachment theory and what is consists

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