Behavior does not begin at birth or after
hatching. Birth or hatching are merely
changes in the animal’s effective physical
environment, that greatly enlarge the space
available to him and the number of physical
and chemical influences on him. However…
birth introduces the animal to a quite
different environment, the social
environment, which is much more complex
that the physical one.
Kuo (1967, p. 30)
You know—at least you ought to know,
For I have often told you so—
That Children never are allowed
To leave their Nurses in a Crowd
Now this was Jim’s especial Foible,
He ran away when he was able,
And on this inauspicious day
He slipped his hand and ran away!
He hadn’t gone a yard when—Bang!
With open jaws a lion sprang,
And hungrily began to eat
The Boy: Beginning at his feet.
His Father, who was self-controlled,
Bade all the children round attend
To James’ miserable end,
And always keep a hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse
‘Jim’ – Hilaire Bellog as quoted in
Bowlby (1969, p. 210)
Sucking at the mother’s breast is the
starting-point of the whole of sexual life, the
unmatched prototype of every later sexual
satisfaction, to which phantasy often enough
returns in times of need. This sucking
involves making the mother’s breast the first
object of the sexual instinct. I can give you no
idea of… the profound effects it has in its
transformations… in even the remotest
regions of our sexual lives.
Freud (1916, p. 314)
… probably the feeding experience can be
the occasion for the child to learn to like to be
with others; that is, it can establish the basis
for sociability.
Dollard and Miller (1950)
The original mother-infant bond is the
wellspring for all the infant’s subsequent
attachments and is the formative relationship
in the course of which the child develops a
sense of himself. Throughout his lifetime the
strength and character of this attachment
will influence the quality of all future bonds
to other individuals.
Klaus and Kennell (1976, pp. 1-2)
Contact comfort is… of critical
importance… an infant fed from a lactating
wire mother does not become more
responsive to her, as would be predicted from
a drive-dervied theory, but instead becomes
increasingly more responsive to its nonlactating cloth mother. These findings are at
complete variance with a drive-reduction
theory of affectional development.
Harlow and Zimmermann (1959)
A child seeks his attachment-figure when
he is tired, hungry, ill, or alarmed and also
when he is uncertain of that figure’s
whereabouts; when the attachment –figure is
found he wants to remain in proximity to him
or her and may also want to be held or
cuddled. By contrast, a child seeks a
playmate when he is in good spirits and
confident of the whereabouts of his
attachment-figure; when the playmate is
found, moreover, the child wants to engage in
playful interaction with him or her.
Bowlby (1969, p. 307)
… Group B babies use their mothers as a
secure base from which to explore in the
preseparation episodes; their attachment
behavior is greatly intensified by the
separation episodes so that exploration
diminished and stress is likely; and in the
reunion episodes they seek contact awith,
proximity to, or at least interaction with their
mothers.
Ainsworth (1979, p. 932)
Group C babies tend to show some signs
of anxiety even in the preseparation episodes;
they are intensely distressed by separation;
and in the reunion episodes they are
ambivalent about the mother, seeking close
contact with her and yet resisting contact or
interaction.
Ainsworth (1979, p. 932)
Group A babies… rarely cry in the
separation episodes and, in the reunion
episodes, avoid the mother, either mingling
proximity-seeking and avoidant behaviors or
ignoring her altogether.
Ainsworth (1979, p. 932)
EPISODES OF THE STRANGE SITUATION
1. E introduces parent and baby to playroom and leaves
2. P sits while B plays. (parent as secure base)
3. Stranger enters, sits, and talks to P (stranger anxiety)
4. P leaves, S offers comfort if B upset (separation anxiety)
5. P returns, greets baby, and offers comfort if baby is
upset. S leaves. (reunion behavior)
6. P leaves room. (separation anxiety)
7. S enters and offers comfort. (soothability by stranger)
8. P returns, greets baby, offers comfort if necessary, and
tries to interest baby in toys. (reunion behavior)
Adapted from Shaffer (2000, p. 137)
In comparison with anxiously attached
infants, those who are securely attached as 1year-olds are later more cooperative… less
aggressive/avoidant… more competent and more
sympathetic in interaction with peers… [they]
display more intense exploratory interest… are
more enthusiastic, more persistent… more
curious, more self-directed, more ego-resilient—
and they tend to achieve better scores on both
developmental tests and measures of language
development.
Ainsworth (1979, p. 936)
The implication is that the way in which the
infant organizes his or her behavior toward the
mother affects the way in which he or she
organizes behavior toward other aspects of the
environment, both animate and inanimate. This
organization provides a core of continuity in
development despite changes that come with
developmental acquisitions, both cognitive and
socioemotional.
Ainsworth (1979, p. 936)
A central hypothesis within attachment theiry
has emerged that suggests that parents’ mental
representation of childhood attachment
experiences—as manifested in language—
strongly influences the quality of their child’s
attachment to them… an adult’s evaluation of
childhood experiences and their influence on
current functioning becomes organized into a
relatively stable “state of mind.”
Van Ijzendoorn (1995, p. 387)
Table 5.1 Characteristics of Inhibited
Compared with Uninhibited Children
1. Reluctance to initiate spontaneous
comments with unfamiliar children or adults
2. Absence of spontaneous smiles with
unfamiliar people
3. Relatively long time needed to relax in new
situations
4. Impaired recall memory following stress
5. Reluctance to take risks and cautious
behavior in situations requiring decisions
6. Interference to threatening words in the
Stroop Procedure
7. Unusual fears and phobias
8. Large heart rate accelerations to stress and
to a standing posture
9. Large rises in diastolic blood pressure to a
sanding posture
10. Large papillary dilations to stress
11. High muscle tension
12. Greater cortical activation in the right
frontal area
13. Atomic allergies
14. Light-blue eyes
15. Ectomorphic body build and narrow face