Secure Attachment and Adulthood Essay - 1806 Words

To some an acorn is just an acorn, nothing more than a nut. The acorn with its tough leathery outside and rich amber color signifies nothing more than the commencement of autumn. To others it represents a great deal of potential. This tiny seed has the ability to endure many adverse effects including long periods of cold temperatures, drought, and human interference. The fragile acorn contains all the necessary elements to become the giant, majestic oak that has come to signify strength. When the conditions are favorable, the little nut will thrive and become an impressive adult tree providing oxygen and shade as nature intended. The most important factor to the budding tree is the environment. Like all other living things, the acorn†¦show more content†¦John Bowlby, who originally developed the theory of attachment, describes it as a â€Å"lasting psychological connectedness between human beings† (Somerville, 2009). Furthermore, there are four main characteristic of infant attachment, proximity maintenance, safe haven, secure base, and separation distress. Proximity maintenance is the desire to stay close to the people we have formed an attachment. Safe haven refers to the action of returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety when danger or fear is present. A secure base is a place where the attachment figure acts as a base of security from which a child can explore the surrounding world. Separation distress is the anxiety that occurs when the attachment figure is absent (Cherry, 2011). These characteristics are well demonstrated in Mary Ainsworth’s experiment of the â€Å"strange situation.† Researcher Chris Fraley describes the study as, â€Å"a group of 12 month-old infants and their parents are brought in to the laboratory and, systematically separated from and reunited with one another.† Approximately 58 percent of the children demonstrated characteristics of secure attachment. When the parent left the room the child displayed signs of distress with a need to be close to the attachment figure. When the parent returned to the room, the child eagerly approachedShow MoreRelatedThe Strange Situation Protocol Was Developed By British Psychoanalyst John Bowlby1211 Words   |  5 PagesAttachment theory, originally developed by British psychoanalyst John Bowlby (1907-1990), is based on caregiver-child relationships. Bowlby indicated that the attachment style developed in infancy, has a true correlation to our adult relationships, and is a res ult of recurring interpersonal interactions with caregivers during childhood. Children develop different attachment styles based on their experience and interactions with primary caregivers. 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In my research, I found recentRead MoreThe Psychosocial Development Of Infants And Children Essay1589 Words   |  7 Pageswhat style of attachment the child forms with the caregiver (p.330). Attachment is very important for infants and young children to form emotional bonds. There are four styles of attachment secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized-disoriented. Secure attachment is the most important style of attachment. Those with secure attachment have a developed sense of self that will carry through to adulthood, and lead to positively affected relationships. The ability to form secure attachment begins withRead MoreThe Theory Of The Attachment Theory1268 Words   |  6 PagesThe attachment theory has been a topic of discussion since about 1951, when introduced by John Bowlby. Mary Salter Ainsworth later created the famous â€Å"Strange Situation† experiment to test this theory (Berant, 2013). Until this point, most psychologists studied adulthood behaviors and worked backward to childhood. Bowlby believed that childhood attachments impact adulthood. (Berant, 2013). Attachment styles that the â€Å"Strange Situation† study named include secure, anxious avoidant, anxious ambivalentRead More To what extent and in what ways are people ?fixed? and ?open to change1567 Words   |  7 Pageschanges that take place in the development of a new born into a fully grown adult, researches developed the organismic approach. They believed that in order to achieve adulthood, people go through different phases and that a later stage incorp orates and expands on the experiences from an earlier stage in life (â€Å"stage theory†). While adulthood was considered as the end-stage, external factors were identified as potential causes for a delay, acceleration or slowing-down in certain stages of development,