Attachment to Others
and Development of Self
How Children Develop (3rd ed.)
Siegler, DeLoache & Eisenberg
Chapter 11
Attachment

An emotional bond with
a specific person that is
enduring across space
and time

The observations of
John Bowlby and
others involved with
institutionalized
children led to an
understanding of the
importance of parentchild interactions in
development.
Attachment

Many investigators
now believe that
children’s early
relationships with
parents influence the
nature of their
interactions with
others from infancy
into adulthood, as well
as their feelings about
their own worth.
Overview

I. The Caregiver-Child
Attachment Relationship

II. Conceptions of the Self

III. Ethnic Identity

IV. Sexual Identity or
Orientation

V. Self-Esteem
I. The Caregiver-Child
Attachment Relationship
A. Attachment Theory
B. Measurement of Attachment
Security
C. Cultural Variations in Attachment
D. Factors Associated with the
Security of Children’s Attachment
E. Does Security of Attachment
Have Long-Term Effects?
I. Caregiver-Child Attachment Relationship

Harry Harlow’s
experimental work with
monkeys who were
deprived of all early
social interactions
strongly supported the
view that healthy social
and emotional
development is rooted
in children’s early
social interactions with
adults.
A. Attachment Theory

John Bowlby proposed attachment
theory, which is influenced by
ethological theory and posits that
children are biologically predisposed to
develop attachments with caregivers as
a means of increasing the chances of
their own survival.
1. Bowlby’s Attachment
Theory

Secure base is Bowlby’s
term for an attachment
figure’s presence that
provides an infant or
toddler with a sense of
security that makes it
possible for the infant to
explore the environment.

Mary Ainsworth, Bowlby’s
student, extended and
tested his ideas.
Bowlby’s
Four Phases of Attachment
1.
Preattachment phase
(birth to 6 weeks)
The infant produces innate signals that bring
others to his or her side and is comforted by the
interaction that follows.
2.
Attachment-in-the-making
(6 weeks to 6-8 months)
The phase in which infants begin to respond
preferentially to familiar people.
Bowlby’s
Four Phases of Attachment
3.
Clear-cut attachment
(between 6-8 months and 1½-2 years)
Characterized by the infant’s actively seeking contact
with their regular caregivers and typically showing
separation protest or distress when the caregiver departs
4.
Reciprocal relationships
(from 1½ or 2 years on)
Involves children taking
an active role in
developing working
partnerships with their
caregivers
Internal Working
Model of Attachment

The child develops a mental
representation of the self, of
attachment figures, and of
relationships in general.

This working model guides
children’s interactions with
caregivers and other people in
infancy and at older ages.
2. Ainsworth’s Research

Ainsworth developed a laboratory
procedure called “The Strange Situation” to
assess infants’ attachment to their primary
caregivers.

In this procedure, the child is exposed to seven
episodes, including two separations and
reunions with the caregiver and interactions
with a stranger when alone and when the
caregiver is in the room.

Using this procedure, Ainsworth identified three
attachment categories.
Episodes in Ainsworth’s
Strange Situation Procedure
B. Measurement of
Attachment Security in Infancy
1.
Secure attachment is a pattern of attachment in which
an infant or child has a high-quality, relatively
unambivalent relationship with his or her attachment
figure.

In the Strange Situation, a securely attached infant, for example,
may be upset when the caregiver leaves but may be happy to see
the caregiver return, recovering quickly from any distress.

When children are securely attached, they can use caregivers as
a secure base for exploration.

About two-thirds of American middle class children are securely
attached.
Attachment Classifications
2.
Insecure/resistant (or ambivalent) attachment is a
pattern in which infants or young children (about
15% of American middle class children) are clingy
and stay close to their caregiver rather than explore
the environment.
•
In the Strange Situation, insecure/resistant infants tend to
become very upset when the caregiver leaves them alone in the
room, and are not readily comforted by strangers.
•
When the caregiver returns, they are not easily comforted and
both seek comfort and resist efforts by the caregiver to comfort
them.
Attachment Classifications
3.
Insecure/avoidant attachment is a
type of insecure attachment in which infants or
young children (about 20% of infants from middleclass U.S. families) seem somewhat indifferent
toward their caregiver and may even avoid the
caregiver.

In the Strange Situation, these children seem indifferent toward
their caregiver before the caregiver leaves the room and
indifferent or avoidant when the caregiver returns.

If these children become upset when left alone, they are as
easily comforted by a stranger as by the caregiver.
Attachment Classifications
4.
Because a small percentage of children did not fit
into these categories, a fourth category,
disorganized/disoriented attachment, was
subsequently identified.

Infants in this category seem to have no consistent way of
coping with the stress of the Strange Situation.

Their behavior is often confused or even contradictory, and
they often appear dazed or disoriented.
C. Cultural Variations in Attachment

To a great extent, infants’ behaviors
in the Strange Situation are similar
across numerous cultures, including
in China, Western Europe, and
various parts of Africa.

There are, however, some important
differences in behavior in the
Strange Situation in certain other
cultures.
Attachment Across Cultures

Types of insecure attachment in the United
States and Japan differ, with all insecurely
attached Japanese infants classified as
insecure/resistant.

This may reflect the emphasis on dependence and
closeness between Japanese infants and their
mothers and Japanese infants’ anger and resentment
at being denied contact in the Strange Situation.
Parents
with secure
adult
attachments
tend to have
securely
attached
children.
D. Factors Associated with the
Security of Children’s Attachment

Parental sensitivity contributes to the security of an
infant’s attachment.

Can be exhibited in a variety of ways:


Responsive caregiving when children are distressed or upset

Helping children to engage in learning situations by providing just
enough, but not too much, guidance and supervision
Intervention studies, in which parents in an
experimental group are trained to be more sensitive
in their caregiving, indicate a causal relationship
between parental sensitivity and security of
attachment.
Interventions and Attachment

In a study conducted in the Netherlands, half of a
group of mothers of 6-month-old babies at some risk
for insecure attachment were randomly assigned to
a condition in which sensitivity was trained, with the
remaining half in a comparison condition.

Three months later, more of the infants of the mothers in the
experimental group were securely attached than were those in
the control group.

The differences in attachment were still apparent when the
children were 18 months, 24 months, and 3½ years old.
E. Does Security of Attachment
Have Long-Term Effects?

Children who were securely attached as
infants seem to have closer, more harmonious
relationships with peers than do insecurely
attached children.

Secure attachment in infancy also predicts
positive peer and romantic relationships and
emotional health in adolescence.

Securely attached children also earn higher
grades and are more involved in school than
insecurely attached children.
Long-Term Effects

It is unclear, however,
whether security of
attachment in infancy
has a direct effect on
later development, or
whether early security
of attachment predicts
children’s functioning
because “good”
parents remain “good”
parents.

It is likely that children’s
development can be better
predicted from the
combination of both their
early attachment status and
the quality of subsequent
parenting than from either
factor alone.
II. Conceptions
of the Self
A. The Development of
Conceptions of Self
B. Identity in Adolescence
The Self

Refers to a conceptual
system made up of one’s
thoughts and attitudes
about oneself

An individual’s
conceptions about the
self can include thoughts
about one’s own physical
being, social roles and
relationships, and
“spiritual” or internal
characteristics.
A. Development of
Conceptions of Self

Children’s sense of self emerges in
the early years of life and continues to
develop into adulthood, becoming
more complex as the individual’s
emotional and cognitive development
deepens.

Adults contribute to the child’s selfimage by providing descriptive
information about the child.
1. The Self in Infancy

Infants have a rudimentary
sense of self in the first
months of life, as evidenced
by their control of objects
outside of themselves.

Their sense of self becomes
more distinct at about 8
months of age, when they
respond to separation from
primary caregivers with
separation distress.
1. The Self in Infancy

By 18 to 20 months of age, many children can
look into a mirror and realize that the image
they see there is themselves.


By 30 months of age, almost all children
recognize their own photograph.
Two-year-old children’s exhibition of
embarrassment and shame, their self-assertive
behavior, and their use of language also
indicate their self-awareness.
2. The Self in Childhood

At age 3 to 4, children understand themselves
in terms of concrete, observable characteristics
related to physical attributes, physical activities and
abilities, and psychological traits.


Their self-evaluations during the preschool years are
unrealistically positive.
Children begin to refine their conceptions of self in
elementary school, in part because they
increasingly engage in social comparison, the
process of comparing aspects of one’s own
psychological, behavioral, or physical functioning to
that of others in order to evaluate oneself.
The Developing Sense of Self

By middle to late
elementary school,
children’s conceptions of
self begin to become
integrated and more
broadly encompassing,
reflecting cognitive
advances in the ability to
use higher-order concepts.
 In addition, older children
can coordinate opposing
self-representations and
are inclined to compare
themselves with others on
the basis of objective
performance.
3. The Self in Adolescence
III. Ethnic Identity
A. Ethnic Identity in Childhood
B. Ethnic Identity in Adolescence
Ethnic Identity

Refers to individual’s
sense of belonging to
an ethnic group,
including the degree
to which they
associate their
thinking, perceptions,
feelings, and behavior
with membership in
that ethnic group
A. Ethnic Identity in Childhood
Children’s ethnic identity has five components:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ethnic knowledge: Knowledge that their ethnic group has
certain distinguishing characteristics
Ethnic self-identification: The categorization of
themselves as members of their ethnic group
Ethnic constancy: The understanding that the
distinguishing characteristics of their ethnic group that they
carry in themselves do not change across time and place
Ethnic-role behaviors: Engagement in the behaviors that
reflect the distinguishing characteristics of their ethnic
group
Ethnic feelings and preferences: Feelings about
belonging to an ethnic group and their preferences for its
members and the characteristics that define it
Examples of
Components of Ethnic Identity
Development of Ethnic Identity

Ethnic identity develops gradually
during childhood and is not universal.

By the early school years, ethnicminority children know the common
characteristics of their ethnic group,
start to have feelings about being
members of the group, and may have
begun to form ethnically-based
preferences.
Development of Ethnic Identity

Children tend to identify themselves
with their ethnic group between the
ages of 5 and 8. Shortly after that,
they begin to understand their
ethnicity as unchanging.

The family and the larger social
environment play a major role in the
development of ethnic identity.
B. Ethnic Identity in Adolescence
IV. Sexual Identity
or Orientation
A. The Origins of Youths’
Sexual Identity
B. Sexual Identity in
Sexual-Minority Youth
Sexual Orientation

A person’s preference in
regard to males or females
as objects of erotic feelings

A core component of
adolescent identity

Dealing with new feelings of
sexuality is difficult for many
adolescents, but establishing
a sexual identity is much
harder for some adolescents
than for others.
A. The Origins of Youth’s
Sexual Identity

Puberty is the most likely time for youth to
begin experiencing feelings of sexual
attraction to others.

Most current theorists believe that feelings of
sexual attraction to others are based
primarily on biological factors, although the
environment may also be a contributing
factor.
B. Sexual Identity in
Sexual Minority Youth

Sexual-minority youth are young people who
experience same-sex attractions and for whom the
question of personal sexual identity is often
confusing and painful.

It is difficult to know exactly how many youth fit in
this category, but current estimates indicate that 24% of high students in the U.S. identify themselves
as gay, lesbian or bisexual. However, many sexualminority youth don’t self-identify until early
adulthood or later.

Increasing numbers of sexual-minority youth are
disclosing this information to others (i.e., “coming
out”) and are doing so at earlier ages than in
previous cohorts.
2. Consequences of Coming Out

Typically, sexual-minority youth do not disclose
their same-sex preferences to peers or siblings
until about 16½ to 19 years of age and do not tell
their parents until a year or two later, if at all.



Surveys show that about 20-40% of sexual-minority
youth are insulted or threatened by relatives after they
reveal their sexual identity.
Heterosexual adolescents tend to be not very
accepting of same-sex preferences in peers.
Presumably because of the pressures of coping
with their sexuality, sexual-minority youth have
higher reported rates of attempted suicide than
other youth.
V. Self-Esteem
A. Sources of Self-Esteem
B. Self-Esteem in
Minority Children
C. Culture and Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem

One’s overall evaluation of the worth of
the self and the feelings that this
evaluation engenders

Related to how satisfied people are with
their lives and their overall outlook

Starts to develop early and is affected
by a variety of factors throughout life
A. Sources of Self-Esteem

Involves the interaction of nature and
nurture, including the sociocultural context.

There are large individual differences in selfesteem.
1. Heredity

Heredity contributes to self-esteem in terms
of physical appearance, athletic ability, and
aspects of intelligence and personality (e.g.,
self-esteem is more similar in siblings who
are closer genetically).

The genetic contribution to self-esteem
appears to be stronger for boys than for
girls.
2. Others’ Contributions to
Self-Esteem

Children begin to
become concerned
about winning their
parents’ love and
approval at about age 2.

Parents who tend to be
accepting and involved with
their child and who use
supportive yet firm childrearing practices tend to
have children with higher
self-esteem.

Parents who reject their
children for unacceptable
behavior (rather than
condemning the specific
behavior) are likely to instill
their children with a sense
of worthlessness.
Factors Contributing to
Children’s Self-Esteem
2. Others’ Contributions to
Self-Esteem

Over the course of childhood, selfesteem is increasingly affected by
peer acceptance and is also likely to
affect how peers respond to
individual children.

Self-esteem is increasingly affected
by internalized standards as children
approach adolescence.
3. School and Neighborhood

A decline in self-esteem is associated with the
transition from elementary to junior high school.

Living in poverty in
an urban
environment is
associated with
lower self-esteem
among adolescents
in the United States.
B. Self-Esteem in Minority Children

Although young Euro-American
children tend to have higher selfesteem than their African-American
peers, the trend reverses slightly after
age 10.


Less is known about the self-esteem of Latino
and other minority children.
Minority-group parents can help their children
develop high self-esteem and a sense of wellbeing by instilling them with pride in their
culture, by being supportive, and by helping
them to deal with prejudice.
C. Culture and Self-Esteem

Self-esteem scores tend to be
lower in China, Japan, and Korea
than in many Western nations.

There appear to be fundamental
differences between Asian and
Western cultures that affect the
very meaning of self-esteem.