ATTACHMENT THEORY
John Bowlby (and Mary Ainsworth)
Presentation By: Breana Draudt
OBJECTIVES
v  Purpose of the theory development
and selection
v  Historical context of authors and
theory
v  Structural elements
v  Analysis using Barnum’s criteria
PURPOSE
v  Bowlby: To study attachment and
effects of deviations from
attachment
v  Draudt: To determine applicability of
Attachment Theory to
v  Utility to research and practice
psychological well-being and
v  Applicability to psychology well being
relationship quality in homeless
and relationship quality in homeless
adolescents
adolescents
JOHN BOWLBY
v  February 26, 1907 to September 2, 1990
v  4th of 6 children; upper middle class family
v  Spent an average of 1 hour with his mother per day
v  Grieved the loss of one of his nannies
v  Father was a surgeon, encouraged Bowlby to attend
medical school
•  Attended medical school and later became interested in
psychiatry
http://www.psicoterapiaintegrativa.com/
therapists/htms/John_Bowlby.htm
v  Said to be one of the top 4 most influential people in
psychology this century
MARY AINSWORTH
http://www.famouspsychologists.org/mary-ainsworth/
v  December 1, 1913 to March 21, 1999
v  Notable contributions to Attachment Theory
v  Studied bonding and attachment in Uganda before the formal presentation of
Attachment Theory
v  Proposed some of the major concepts of Attachment Theory: Patterns of
Attachment and Secure Base
INFLUENCES: THEORIES
v  Control Systems Theory (“A control system is a means by which a variable
quantity or set of variable quantities is made to conform to a prescribed
norm;” the ability of one to control her environment (Waters))
v  Dependency Theory (Learned drive, acquired through its association with the
reduction of primary drive (Ainsworth)) Singer and Prebisch’s theory
v  Object-Relations Theory (“object” of an instinct is the agent through which
the instinctual aim is achieved, and the agent is usually conceived as
being another person” (Ainsworth)) Greenberg and Mitchell 1983
INFLUENCES: DISCIPLINES
v Medicine: Bowlby’s father was a surgeon; Bowlby attended medical
school
v Ethology: Study of animal behavior. Heavily influenced by Harlow’s
rhesus monkeys and Lorenz’s study of avian species
v Psychology: Bowlby was educated in psychoanalysis after medical
school. He believed that current psychoanalytic theory did not
describe the bond between an infant and his/her parent
Patterns
Figures
•  Insecure
•  Secure
•  Maternal
Deprivation
Functions
•  Sensitivity
•  Comfort
Behaviors
•  Early Interaction
Attachment
CONCEPTS
Attached
Person
•  Internal Working
Models
ATTACHMENT
“ The dimension of the infant-caregiver
relationship involving protection and
security regulation. Within this theoretic
framework, attachment is conceptualized as
an intense and enduring affectional bond that
http://familymatters.vision.org/FamilyMatters/
bid/36390/Beyond-Attachment-Theory
the infant develops with the mother figure, a bond that is biologically
rooted in the function of protection from danger”’ (Mooney, 2010)
T H E A T T A C H M E N T B E H AV I O U R A L S Y S T E M
( H O L M E S, 1 9 9 3 )
ATTACHMENT BEHAVIORS
“Attachment behaviour […] refers to any of the various forms of
behaviour that the person engages in from time to time to obtain and/or
maintain a desired proximity” (Bowlby, 1988).
“The condition in which an individual is linked emotionally with another
person, usually, but not always, someone perceived
to be older, stronger and wiser than themselves”
(Holmes, 1993)
Examples: Crying, clinging, smiling, vocalizing
http://www.lilomaternity.com/
blog/is-your-baby-crying/
THE EVOLUTION OF
ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOR
Holmes, 1993)
INFANCY
•  Maternal
Handling
Babyhood
•  Attachment
Pattern
Latency
•  Relationship
Style
Adolescence
•  Internal World
Adulthood
•  ‘thinking’ about
‘thinking’
•  Self-other
representation
ATTACHMENT PATTERNS
v  Secure Attachment:
•  Emotionally open and straight
forward
•  Accept comfort and protection
from caregiver when distressed
•  From available, predictable and
sensitive caregiving
v  Anxious Avoidant:
•
•
•
•
•
v  Anxious Ambivalent:
•  Insecure
•  Show mixed emotions to caregiver when
distressed
•  Periods of helplessness and passivity,
aggression, or fear
•  Explores surrounding but concerned with
proximity
•  From unpredictable/impulsive caregivers;
neglect
Insecure
Suppress or hide negative emotions v  Disorganized:
•  Insecure
Avoid eye contact
•  Confusing mixture of conflicting-need to seek
Use toys as distraction
proximity vs. need to escape
From consistent distant, rejecting,
•  May have abnormal body movements e.g. tics
punitive caregiving; emotional/
•  From prolonged isolation, neurological illness
physical abuse
VISUAL MODEL OF
ATTACHMENT PATTERNS
http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm
ATTACHMENT FUNCTIONS
v  Proximity Maintenance allows the person to
stay close to and resist separation from the
attachment figure
v  Safe Haven Behavior provides reliability
on the attachment figure for support and comfort
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/vanm0049/myblog/
2011/12/attach-vs.-detach.html
v  A Secure Base is an environment provided by the attachment figure from which
a child/adolescent can return knowing that he will be welcomed, nourished physically
and emotionally, comforted and reassured. This allows for non-attachment behaviors
such as exploration, which can allow an individual to learn things that may increase
survival
OTHER CONCEPTS
v  Attachment Figure: one with whom another person (in the original context an infant/child) is
attached
v  Maternal Depravation: Term from Bowbly’s earlier work describing the process of an infant
losing or being deprived of its mother.
v  Early Interaction between infant and mother considered important for secure attachment.
Ainsworth emphasizes interaction within the first 9 months of life
v  Sensitivity of the mother to her child’s needs; described as a parenting style that facilitates
secure attachment; part of “secure base”
v  Comfort is the mother’s ability to soothe a distressed child; also part of “secure base”
v  Internal Working Models
•  From Cognitive Psychology
•  Higher animals need a map of the world in the brain to predict, control and manipulate their
environment through thoughts
•
Environmental and organismal models that tell us about ourselves in relation to the world
D E V E L O P M E N T A L PA T H WAY S F R O M
M A T E R N A L D E P R I VA T I O N ( H O L M E S , 1 9 9 3 )
ASSUMPTIONS/STATEMENTS
v  Assumptions not explicitly stated
•
•
•
•
Psychological bonds exist
Attachment Behaviors exist
Patterns of Attachment exist
Attachment Figures exist (usually mother)
v  Statement importance not prioritized explicitly
•  I interpreted some of the assumptions as existential statements (above)
•  Relationship statements among attachment, attachment behaviors, patterns of
attachment, attachment figure, infant/child
EVALUATION: INTERNAL
CRITICISM
v  Clarity
•  concepts are difficult to discern, but overall clearly described
•  concepts are further separated into sub-concepts which are described several ways;
no single definitions
•  the relationship between attachment and mental health are clearly explicated
•  Bowlby wrote the theory in a trilogy of lectures, a synthesis of information may that
explains the theory parsimoniously is needed
v  Consistency
•  terms are used consistently
•  delineates terms that may be misunderstood or have been misunderstood
•  Attachment Theory has recently been applied to relationships other than parent/
child, which compromises consistency of original terms, meanings
EVALUATION: INTERNAL
CRITICISM
v  Adequacy
•  the theory fulfills it’s purpose
•  further refinement and clarification may be necessary (e.g. synthesis of information)
•  the subject matter is well accounted for
v  Logical Development
•  Developed from several theories and disciplines
•  Refined with input from Ainsworth and clarified in response to critique
•  In early development, the idea was radical and unproven; today extensive literature
supports its premises
•  Conclusions seem logical, argument was considered overstated given the available
evidence during the original development.
v  Level of Theory Development
•  Well developed through several revisions (in response to critique, misunderstandings)
•  Work continues to be done, specifically with measurement and expanding the applicability
EVALUATION: EXTERNAL
CRITICISM
v  Reality Convergence
•  Attachment is needed for human development
•  Kettle suggests that attachment belongs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
•  Theory builds on existing work, very reality-based
•  Considered a middle-range theory (possibly high middle range given increasingly broader
applicability)
v  Utility
•  Applied extensively to research and practice in psychology and outside of the discipline
including social work, nursing
v  Significance
•  Mental illness is a significant problem
•  Although intent was not necessarily to be useful to nursing, Attachment Theory addresses a
phenomenon experienced by nurses
EVALUATION: EXTERNAL
CRITICISM
v  Discrimination
•  borrowed from psychology, not unique to nursing; boundaries gray
•  nursing interventions can influence attachment behaviors, which clouds
the boundaries
v  Scope: High middle range with “gushy” empirical testability and applicability
•  Ethics of true empirical testability; retrospective studies possible
•  Highly applied
v  Complexity
•  Relatively few concepts, well described although lacking concision
•  Factors influencing attachment are multidimensional and complex
•  Macro, Meso, Micro level factors
•  Mediators and Moderators discussed in later revisions
OTHER CRITICISM
v  Strongly focused on the maternal-infant bond
•  Inadequately describes paternal-infant bond
•  Implicitly blames mothers for children’s mental illness + takes responsibility away
from fathers
•  Feminists objected to Bowlby’s use of biology “to justify what is essentially a cultural
product of our own ‘patriarchal but father-absent’ society” Leupnitz (1988)
v  Nature vs. nurture
•  Too strongly accepts nurture are causative factor for mental illness
•  Does not account for genetic predisposition to mental illness
v  Mentions “attachment figures” but does not describe the differences in
attachment between parents (particularly mothers) and other individuals
to which one can be attached
UTILITY IN RESEARCH
AND PRACTICE
Research
v  Psychosomatic Illness
•
•
Chronic Pain
Cardiovascular Disease
v  Relationships
v  Nurse-Patient relationship + Patient
Outcomes (e.g. adherence)
v  Child sexual abuse, child maltreatment
v  Extensive research in psychology
•
•
•
Developmental psychopathology
Cognitive Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Practice
v  Guides clinical psychology
v  Applied to psychiatric mental health
and women and infants nursing
v  Head start
v  Custody cases
v  Foster care
NEWER AND FUTURE
APPLICABILITY
v  May be more broadly applied with additional research studying attachment in
situations other than parent/child
•
•
•
•
nurse/patient
adolescent peer
romantic couples
attachment and loss at end of life
v  Newly applied to psychosomatic illness
A P P L I C AT I O N T O P R E S E N T E R ’ S
R E S E A RC H
-Bowlby studied homeless children and adolescents
•  Wrote a report on mental health in homeless children in post-war
Europe for the World Health Organization (WHO)
-Several researchers apply Attachment Theory to their
research with homeless youth including Tavechhio,
Taylor-Seehafer, and Whitbeck
http://johma.org/who_we_serve
-Effective at providing a framework to understand psychological well being and
relationship quality in relation to childhood attachment in homeless adolescents
-New research leading to further applicability to peer relationships, which can also be
applied to psychological well being and relationship quality in homeless adolescents
References
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Relationship. Child Development 40 969-1025
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