A movement growing out of neopsychoanalytic theory emphasizing social relationships and their origins in childhood.There are different versions of this theory.

An assumption that a child’s internal wishes, desires, and urges are not as important as his developing relationships with others, particularly parents.Second assumption: These “others” (particularly Mom) become internalized by the child in the form of mental objects.Child has an unconscious “mother” within to whom he or she can relate. Allows the child to have a relationship with this internalized object, even in the absence of the real mother, hence the term “object relations.”

If things are going well with Mom, the infant internalizes a caring, nurturant, trustworthy mother object, which forms the basis for how the child comes to view others.It’s the early childhood experience with caregiver, especially attachment to the primary caregiver, that determines adult personality.

A 20th century English educator who was trained in both medicine and psychoanalysisBecame interested in the behavioral disturbances of institutionalized children in the 1930sTurned to ethology for answers

Bowlby’s term for the basic environment from which human behavior evolved.Humans have always stayed in groups because it enhances survival.Attachment behavior has evolved because it improves chances of survival.

Birth to 2 or 3 monthsInfants like to listen to human voices and focus on facesSocial smiling begins around 6 weeks old—powerful elicitor of attachment

3-6 or 7 monthsAttachment becomes focused on one figure, usually the mother.Cooing and babbling begin, which strengthen attachment.Baby shows clear preference for familiar people.“Imprinting” behavior develops as baby “follows” Mom.

6 to 36 monthsBabies actively pursue contact with regular caregivers.Separation anxiety develops around 6 months old.Stranger anxiety develops around 7 or 8 months.Baby uses mom as a secure base from which to explore. Baby develops schema for interactions with Mom.

3 years +Children start taking others’ feelings, goals, and plans into account; isn’t as self-centeredBreak away from parental dominance during adolescence but form new attachmentsAs adults, we seek independence but also affiliation with others.Being alone is considered one of the greatest fears in life.

Harlow & Zimmerman’s study with monkeys—half were fed by a soft cloth “mother” monkey; other half fed by wire monkeyBoth groups had access to both cloth and wire “mothers”All monkeys preferred the cloth mother, even those who were fed by the wire ones.Showed that feeding is not most important determinant of an infant’s attachment to caregivers.

Suffer from a basic lack of emotional attention.There may be a sensitive (or even critical) period for attachments to develop.Therapeutic interventions can help children who are adopted before age 2, but some Romanian infants have still had emotional difficulties 2 years later.

1st—children protest—cry, scream, refuse all substitute care2nd—despair—get very sad, quiet, withdrawn, and inactive; appear to be in mourning3rd—detachment; child is very lively and may accept alternate care.When parent returns, child may appear to have lost all interest in her. May recover but may not.

A student of Bowlby’s who collaborated with him for 40 yearsStudied attachment behavior in Ugandan infantsDeveloped the Strange Situations Test in Baltimore, MD.

Ainsworth and others observed babies and mothers in their homes for first year of babies’ lives.At 12 months old, she put them through Strange Situations Test.Wanted to see how babies would use their moms as a secure base from which to explore and also how they’d handle 2 brief situations and reunions with mom.

65-70% of sampleBaby happily explored while using mom as secure base.Protested separations; explorations decreased while mom was gone.Happy to see Mom on return; resumed explorations.Mom had previously been rated as responsive, sensitive, and “lovingly available” at home.

20% of sampleBabies appear very independentDon’t care about Mom; not bothered by separations.Moms had been rated as insensitive, interfering, and rejecting.Babies had often seemed insecure at home. Knew they couldn’t count on Mom.

10-15% of sampleAlso known as anxious-ambivalent or insecure-ambivalentVery clingy baby, preoccupied with Mom’s whereaboutsExtremely upset with separationsWhen Mom returned, they acted angry and avoidant.Moms were inconsistent at home—sometimes emotionally available and other times not.

Disorganized/disoriented—5%; greatest insecure attachment style. Variety of confused, contradictory behaviors. May have flat, depressed gaze, unexpected crying, odd frozen postures, or refusal to look at parent. Usually associated with abuse or neglect. Often known as “reactive attachment disorder” today—outcomes are very poor.

Many studies correlate secure attachment with all sorts of good outcomes—higher self-esteem, score higher on measures of persistence and self-reliance; friendlier; better leadership abilityDefinitely the most healthy pattern of developmentMost prevalent pattern throughout world.

Extensive longitudinal study of attachmentFound that early secure attachment is linked to positive emotional health, high self-esteem, self-confidence, and socially competent interactions with peers, teachers, romantic partners, etc. through adolescence

Bowlby said they become avoidant, defensive adults—overly self-reliant, detached, can’t trust others ot have relationship.Evidence that avoidant children become avoidant parents.Avoidant adults dismiss their own need for love; dismiss own attachment experiences as important.

Ambivalent adults are still struggling with the need to win parents’ love and approval.Their own neediness may interfere with their ability to care for their babies.Easily fall in and out of love in quest to find soul mate

Mothers must be emotionally available to children.Must follow children’s cues and maintain interactional synchrony—not be overly intrusive but respond when needed.Following babies’ cues is very important.

Bowlby and Ainsworth believe moms should always meet the baby’s needs.Babies cry for a reason; it’s an evolved survival mechanism. Ignoring it doesn’t make sense.You can spoil a baby by responding when h/she doesn’t need you. Parents who spoil their children don’t respond to their needs but rather intrude when they’re not needed.

Overstimulation with things like flash cards and computer programsAinsworth says this takes control away from the child.What you should do instead—Give the child the opportunity to explore his own interests, not your own.

Debate still rages todayShould parenting be “child-centered” or “parent-centered”Affects all sorts of decisions, ranging from breastfeeding to day care to whether to let your child “cry it out” at nightJury is still out as to which is best.

Children can be securely attached to one parent and insecurely attached to the other (occurs about 30% of the time) Attachment style can change over time, becoming either more or less stable.Before 2004, it was thought that by the time a child is 4-5 years old, attachment style was permanent and resistant to change. Longitudinal studies show otherwise now. Correlation between childhood & adult attachment style is just .17 in one study.

Correlation between attachment to parent and attachment to romantic partner is .20 and .50…a moderate range.Hazan & Shaver (1987) classified adults as secure, anxious-ambivalent, and avoidant.Two securely attached adults have the best probability for staying married.

Not all research shows a link between infant attachment and later development.In one study, the best predictor of insecure attachment at 18 was parental divorce, not childhood attachment.Consistent positive caregiving over many years is likely to predict later development, especially when combined with early secure attachment.

Kagan believes attachment research is overinflated.Says that children are evolutionarily programmed to stay on a positive development course, even in the face of poor parenting.Believes that genetic and temperamental differences play more of a role in a child’s social competencies than attachment does.

It ignores the diversity of cultural influences.In some cultures, children are raised by multiple people and form attachments to all of them, not just to the parents.

A child psychiatrist who worked with children with emotional and behavioral disordersSaid that emotional ties with Mom are of utmost important to psychological health—kids who did this are normal symbiotic children.Found that some children seemed unable to form attachments with mothers and shut themselves off from the world. On the other hand, symbiotic psychotic children form emotional ties that are so strong that the child is unable to form a sense of self—had no autonomous being.

British psychiatrist who was born in Vienna in 1882Focused on how children come to think about and represent others in their own mindsDeveloped “play therapy” in use todayLooked at infant’s reaction to removal of mom’s breast after nursing; come to both love and hate those closest to us.Conflict is resolved when infant realizes that the mother’s love is not simply her breast.Understanding other people sets the pattern for future relations with others.

A psychoanalyst who argued that a key problem for many anxious people is the fear of the loss of an important love object (usually the parent).Worked with people with narcissistic personality disorder and believed that their problems were the result of parents’ lack of acceptance, which then meant that they could not accept themselves.Used therapist-parent role play to reverse the process, enabling patients to develop a healthy self-concept.