Attachment and their Role in Intergenerational Continuity - Essay Example

The Universality Patterns of Attachment and Their Role in Intergenerational Continuity Introduction Psychologists have made forays in to the subtle aspects of human behavior from the early days of Modern psychology. The attachment, which animals and humans develop also, has been put under the microscope. The studies centered on animals and later, on human beings have enriched the repertoire of knowledge. John Bowlby is the pioneer in the field of study on the phenomenon of attachment in human beings. The significance of study of patterns of attachment in understanding our socio-biological behavior is being widely recognized by many recent studies. Human beings develop closeness with people in early childhood and are secure in the presence of people to whom they are attached. However, the attachment that humans experience is not utilitarian nor is it driven merely by a drive to satisfy some basic needs. Animal and human attachment process are directly linked to the social aspects of our lives and the constraints of survival in an uncertain environment. Bowlby's Theory of Attachment is of great value in studying the competence of human being in the struggle for survival, which in Darwin's view is possible based on fitness. The current evolutionary thinking considers structures and behavioral systems found in the population contributed to the reproductive success of the bearers in the milieu of evolutionary adapted ness. The biological function of attachment is to provide the conditions that keep proximity between infant and caregiver, which is essential for the infant to survive in a hostile environment. The caregiver-child strategies are aimed at accomplishing three universal goals. The are infant survival and eventual reproduction, economic self-sufficiency, and enculturation (Levine, 1982) The process of natural selection prefers individuals who invest a great deal on childcare and rearing. Thus the parents who devote to protect their offspring from hostile forces around them, like predatory and parasitic animals do so by developing bonds affection between them and their offspring. During early days of growth the young learn to discriminate between the parent that cares for them and other member of their species because parents discriminate between their own offspring and other small ones in the same species and may actually show aggression to young which are not their own. The child develops the filial imprinting and the young in no time learns to recognize their parents and follow them everywhere keeping nearness and close contact with them and shunning all but the close kin. With the development of locomotion, the child becomes an explorer. Nevertheless, its exploration of the environment is a gradual process and in a way an antithetical to attachment. The child does not embark upon a path of exploration suddenly. Initially there are spurts of exploration and return to a security zone (mother). In the interplay between exploration and return to the safety zone the child is trained to achieve a balance in his foray in to the world of danger. One of the most salient roles of the attachment behavior is to intervene in the baby's explorations of the environment and to keep it under leash so that through a slow process the child may gain the confidence to face the world alone. It is amazing that babies also actively cooperate in this process. Children approach their caregivers not only in response to danger but to ascertain their presence, which becomes an anchor for the children to explore securely the environment. Scientists have studied the nature of the attachments and made certain categories. However, these categories may not be considered as exclusive watertight compartments. The patterns of attachment are four: secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent insecure attachment, and anxious-avoidant insecure attachment and disorganized attachment. The four patterns of attachment has great ramification in the study of human behavior and can give important clues to adult behavior later in life. Secure Attachment The pattern of exploration of the child who has secure attachment is free while the mother is present. It will engage with strangers while the mother is close at hand. The moment the mother departs it will be noticebly upset and will only be happy to see the mother come back. Securely attached children carry out the exploration of the world only when they know that they have a secure base to return. Because the child values the mother's presence it is dellighted to be in the presence of the mother and mother can influence in a big way the formation of the child. It is the availabilty of the mother to the child to meet its need of security that results in the attachment between them. It is of immense importance in later adult behaviour.According to Jung the problems that children exhibit may be derived from their mother. Parents too easily content themselves with the belief that a thing hidden from the child cannot influence it... I have frequently observed children who were particularly influenced by certain unconscious tendencies in the parents and, in such cases, I have often advised the treatment of the mother rather than of the child. (Jung 1919. Para 1793) Anxious-ambivalent Insecure Attachment The anxious-ambivalent insecure attachment is the fear of exploration and presence of strangers even when the mother is close by.At the departure of the mother the child is highly distressed. When the mother returns the child shows ambivalent behaviour by remaining close to the mother at the same time showing resentment toher. When the mother initates attention the child show resistence.This behaviour is traced to the pattern of mothering at her own terms, ignoring the child's needs. The attention that is bestowed on the child springs from her own needs , not of the child's. . Anxious-avoidant Insecure Attachment An anxious-avoidant attachment style is exhibited by avoiding and ignoring the mother. The child hardly shows any emotion when mother returns or goes away. There is n't much exploration taking place. Moreover the child's equation to the strangers and mother is hardly distinquishable. The emotional range exhibited by the child is very narrow. This style of attachment springs from a mothering style which is more uninvolved. The child's needs are usually not met and the child comes to accept that communication of needs do not make any impact on the mother. Attachment A fourth type called disorganized attachment is in reallity the absence of of a coherent style or pattern for following. Though ambivalent and avoidant styles are not totally effective, they are at least strategies for coping up with the world. Children with disorganized attachment pattern have known their caregivers intimidating and frightened. They experience human interactions as unpredictable thus children cannot form a coherent interactive model.The care taker's rather disintegrated self does not give the child a pattern of anything and it creates a helpless adult as the future unfolds. Universality of Attachment Patterns Though, Freud had valuable insight into the working of the human mind he worked mostly on a pleasure principle. The serious omission in Freud's study of human person his tendency to ignore the societal side of human existence: The most notable omission from Freud's model is any account of the interaction between organism and environment, and between the organism and others (Horrocks 89). Most of his contemporaries also believed that children were passive recipients of maternal care and their attachment to their mother was because they fed them. Jung deviated from this theory. He saw in human behavior a collective pattern. This collective pattern also is seen in the patterns of attachment seen in most parts of the world. The innate psychic organization enables mankind to have the experiences typical to mankind. The whole nature of man presupposes woman who by the providing of affection is a support system to bank on. Human system is meant to be with woman from the start the attachment that she provides the human person becomes the anchor of his life. This experience in universal. Generally, most scholars have accepted this view. A peep into human expression of pain can be taken as an example to show the universality of the language of pain. Background emotions are part of the response to threat essential for maximizing survival. Illness is threatening and requires our self-protective strategies. These emotions and the conventional emotions of fear, anger and desire for comfort, are culture independent, and this enables us to relieve suffering in different cultures and respond empathically to suffering people whatever their culture (Wilkinson 37). Similarly, the language of pain is a universal language which is understood by all cultures. Intergenerational Continuity The attachment development is crucial to the reproduction of the structure of the society. There is intergenerational continuity in this across the globe. The coming together of the family members on special occasions is the result of the formed attachment. Usually in all cultures, the ritual elements are reproduced for the entire community to see, learn and transfer to the next generation. Thus, the young adulthood is reciprocally defined for parents and children as involving a renegotiation of the interdependencies that bond and bind them (Datan Nancy etal 138). Being a son or daughter undergoes progressive changes in the passage of time. For the society to survive intact, these changes have to be communicated to the next generation. For though a person is born as daughter or son, the roles that he or she plays are different and these roles and the way in which it has to be played also is communicated at important stages, it is the attachment that enables the child later in life to receive the legacies that are transferred from one generation to the other. Works Cited Datan Nancy, Anita L. Greene, Hayne W. Reese.(1986) Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Intergenerational Relations. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hillsdale, NJ. Wilkinson. Simon R. (2003) Coping and Complaining: Attachment and the Language of Dis-Ease Brunner-Routledge. New York. Page 37. Levine R. (1982). Culture, behavior and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Aldine. Jung C.G. (1957-79) The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler McGuire (eds), trans. R.F.C. Hull, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hereafter called Collected Works Horrocks Roger.(2001) Freud Revisited: Psychoanalytic Themes in the Postmodern Age. Palgrave. New York. 89. Read More