To What Extent Does Attachment Affect Behavior of Children - Essay Example

? Forming Attachments Research question: To what extent does attachment in infants affect behavior in adults/children? INTRODUCTION Every human being is bound to be attached to another for one reason or another. Here, we shall be highlighting the importance of attachment between a mother and child and the effects that come with lack of this kind of attachment. The topic of attachment was picked because it forms the basis of human development. It is also been discovered that attachment in its self occurs in stages and in different intensities. Moreover, the development of attachments is greatly and clearly manifested in infants. In addition, we shall also look at the various ways of solving the problems that arise from poor attachments and the role of forming attachments in the development of a child. This will encompass the way these affect the behavior of a child as it develops. We shall therefore look at the origin of behavior and the various theories that explain the origin of behavior. We shall also discuss the various ways of forming attachments between a mother and child and suggest ways of maintaining these attachments to impact positive behavior into the child as it grows. In our pursuit to understand attachments and how they are formed, we shall take a look at the attachment theory and the behavioral theory, also known as behaviorism. Behaviorism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. For children the interaction with the immediate environment subjects them to conditioning. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli; shapes our behaviors (Watson, 1954, pg.19). Psychologists define behavior as anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation. From this definition; we can say that behavior is triggered by certain elements that cause a person to react in a given manner. It implies that an individual can learn a certain behavior voluntarily by observing or training so that one can fit well in the environment. For example, tying a shoe is a behavior that is learnt to enable an individual live comfortably by wearing comfortably fitting shoes. This is one behavior that in most cases children learnt through being trained by their parents (Farlex, 2012, pg.18). Other behaviors can be learnt through keen observations like riding is learnt by the infant watching how other adults are doing it and copying them. Attachments between a mother and child influence the way that child behaves since it learns from the mother how to react in certain situations. For example, a baby learns to smile back when someone smiles at it because it sees how the mother smiles at it when she is happy. Attachment is that strong and enduring emotion that connects one person to another. However, attachment is not always two ways as one person may be more attached to the other than the other person is. Attachment in children is characterized by behaviors such as them wanting to be close with the attachment figure when upset or insecure. The most common attachment of the infant is one who feeds it. It develops a strong attachment with that food provision. (Bowlby, 1969, pg.45). In adults towards the child; it includes responding empathically and appropriately to the child’s needs. All infants require a primary adult to who cares for their needs sensitively, one who perceives, responds and make sense of their needs. This is because attachment is an instinctive system in the brain that has evolved to make sure of safety and survival. Each attachment has its occurrence in a unique way   Attachment theory expounds on the attachment of a child to the parent and how this influences subsequent development. Bowlby defined attachment as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Bowlby 1969, p.194). In his clinic Bowlby treated many children who were experiencing emotional dissonance. He observed that children experienced intense distress when separated from their mothers. The children’s anxiety was never tampered with even after being fed by other caregivers. From this observation, we can see that a child is attached to the mother over a period of spending time with her and getting used to certain behaviors that the mother exhibits towards it. If the mother breastfeeds the baby when it cries, an attachment is created between the two and it gives the baby the expectation that when it cries the mother will breastfeed it. Therefore, when the baby cries and a caregiver gives it a milk bottle it feels that everything is not okay and may be anxious hence may not even stop crying. This shows that the attachment between the mother and the baby is so strong that it is adapted to the behaviors of its mother. This is why even if you give a baby its mother’s milk from a bottle; it may not smile at you as it does to the mother when it is being breastfed. This also explains why a baby shows fear to strangers when they attempt to take them from their mothers. This shows that an attachment has been formed and the stranger brings anxiety to the baby by appearing like he or she is attempting to break it. LITERATURE REVIEW Research done regarding the field of psychology has highlighted much about attachment between an infant and its mother and how it affects behavior. By analyzing Bowlby’s attachment theory, we can see that although it describes how attachment is established between a baby and its mother, it has some limitations that hinder it from being the best description there could be (Bowlby, 1969, pg .2). In summing up the main idea underlying Bowlby’s theory it seen that by observing how an infant child behaves towards his or her mother can greatly contribute to our understanding of personality development. Taking children away from their mothers can lead them to respond with great intensity but immediately after reunion the child will be filled with anxiety although this idea has its limitations (pg. 3). The first limitation is that model attachment which is based on behaviors that occur during momentary separations in stressful situations rather than during non-stressful situations. A broader understanding of attachment requires; observation of how the mother and infant interact and what they provide for each other during natural and non-stressful situations (Field, 1996, p. 542). The attachment model can best be reflected by situations when the child interacts with the mother while they are together rather than how the child will react when the mother leaves and later returns to the baby. Attachment is a set of behaviors that are learned and the basis of this learning of attachments is food provision to the infants. On the other hand detachment can best be defined by the behaviors exhibited by the child during departure and reunion times. There are behaviors that the baby portrays when it is with the mother that show attachment. For instance, a baby may tend to sleep comfortably on the laps of its mother with the mother tapping it. This shows that the motherly touch is what lures the baby to sleep hence explains that an attachment has been formed. Therefore, although the attachment theory seeks to define attachment; it leaves out the behaviors exhibited by both the mother and baby during normal times and not when they are necessarily separated. We can hence conclude that attachment is not only defined by the behavior of the baby during stressing times only, but also during normal times when the mother is with the baby. Another problem with the attachment model is that "the list of attachment behaviors is limited to those that occur with the primary attachment figure, typically the mother. However, there are other attachments that are not necessarily characterized by the same behaviors", (Field, 1996, p. 544). As much as children may be attached to other people to their mothers the attachment will not be of the same manner. For example, children may cry or follow their mother when they are getting ready to leave them, but for a sibling or peer they may just appear to be a little disturbed but eventually get over it in a short while. Also, the attachment model behavior list only includes blatant behaviors, but there may be physiological changes during separations and reunions. A baby may show excitement by becoming playful when its sibling comes home from school and look bored when the sibling leaves for school. This shows that there is an attachment between the baby and the sibling that affect the way the baby behaves when it is with the sibling, when they are separated and when they reunite. Lastly, despite the fact that the father has the same type of attachment with the infant at the same time as the mother, the mother still remains to be the primary attachment figure. This relates to adults having more than one primary attachment, such as to their spouse and child. This creates a link to the last limitation in the attachment model that "attachment is confined to the infancy and early childhood period, ending, as noted by Bowlby, during puberty. It gives no consideration to attachments that occur during adolescence (the first love), during adulthood (spouses and lovers), and during later life (Field, 1996, p. 545). The infants vary in the manner in which they perceive what makes them to be soothed and fell pleasurable. This makes the adults to be attuned and will observe and follow the leads of the infant. Secure relationships are characterized by the fooling attributes; the adult is in alignment with infant’s internal state of mind thus communicating with the infant no-verbally; through the mutually achieved interaction the infant learns how to attain balance in body, state of mind and emotions; comfort and mutuality of the attuned interaction leads to the creation of a sense of safety within the infant besides inspiring interpersonal connection to others. According to Cassidy and Shaver (pg.99) they showed how much attachment theory, developed by Bowlby and by Ainsworth, has enlarged and benefited our understanding of human instinctive social behavior. Despite this, practitioners working primarily with adults rather than with young children find that the difficulties adult clients often present are not included in Bowlby's model. A critical analysis of the attachment theory shows that it can be improved to encompass the attachment of the baby with other people other than the mother and to include the growth of the baby and the creation of new attachments as it grows. The foundations for the extensions lie in the model for instinctive behavior put forward by as an alternative to the models suggested by Freud. Interestingly Bowlby's model has not been developed sufficiently by attachment researchers to show how exploration may be maintained. From the handbook, the authors used the concept of family to expound on attachment and its effects on children and adolescents, which also affects their behavior. Discussion and evaluation of research Attachments can be categorized into two main components; secure and the insecure attachments. The insecure attachments can further be sub divided into insecure-ambivalent, insecure disorganized and lastly insecure avoidant. Secure attachment involves the child-parent relationship serve as a basement of future relationship of the child (Smith, Saisan and Segal, 2012, pg.3). This first relationship is the one that the child utilizes to apply to future relationship experiences. Those children with insecure attachments though with the presence of cognitive simulation and adequate physical care exhibit an array of deficits linked to development that they endure overtime. Such children smile less to their mothers, sometimes ignoring them when together. According to Malekpour (2007,pg.14), attachment theory provides not only a framework for understanding emotional reactions in infants, but also a framework for understanding love, loneliness, and grief in adults. Attachment styles in adults are thought to stem directly from the working models of one and others that were developed during infancy and childhood. Ainsworth's three-fold taxonomy of attachment styles has been translated into terms of adult romantic relationships as follows: secure adults find it relatively easy to get close to others and are comfortable depending on others and having others depend on them. Secure adults don't often worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to them. However, the description of the adult’s behavior holds water and makes the styles logic in a way. From Hazan and Shaver (1987, pg.13) observation, we can see that the attachment style of adults affects the way they behave and also affects the way their children behave as infants and as adolescents. Avoidant adults for instance avoid forming attachments with their children and this leaves the children feeling lonely and in that case they tend to be avoidant just like their parents. This means that the behavior of the parents affects the behavior of their children as that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.  It has been highlighted that an infant produces innate ‘social releaser’ behaviors like crying and smiling that stimulates innate care giving responses from the adults.  Therefore the determinant of attachment is thereby not food but care and responsiveness from the adults. Bowlby was of the suggestion that a child would initially form only one primary attachment and that the figure of attachment acted as a secure base for exploring the infant’s world.  The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have dire consequences.  The evolution theory therefore suggests that there is a critical period for developing at attachment which is (about 0 -5 years).  If an attachment has not yet developed during this timeframe then the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences, like reduced intelligence and enhanced aggression (Prior & Glaser, pg.45). This is because research on development of the brain has shown transactions of the infant with the early socio-emotion environment influences the evolution of the brain structures liable for an individual’s social emotional functioning for the rest of the life. Briefly, Bowlby postulated two complementary instinctive behavioral systems (the attachment system and the complementary care giving system), which he referred to as goal-corrected systems, making clear that they were governed by servomechanisms (Bowlby, 148). The attachment system is activated by alarming events, the condition of the person, and the behavior of attachment figures: the small hierarchy of figures to whom a child has become attached, of which the most preferred is 'the person who has looked after you the most', usually the biological mother. Activation of the attachment system leads to behavior that increases proximity to attachment figures. When increased proximity is attained, the end point or goal of the system is reached and the behavior of seeking proximity is terminated, but the system remains active, ready to respond when any behavior-activating events are perceived or felt. Bonding is the process of forming an attachment. Just as bonding is the term used when gluing one object to another, bonding is using our "emotional glue" to become connected to another. Therefore, it involves a set of behaviors that will help lead to an emotional connection (attachment). The biological capacity to bond and form attachments is most certainly genetically determined. Infants are defenseless and must depend upon a care-giving adult for survival. It is in the context of this primary dependence, and the maternal response to this dependence, that a relationship develops. This attachment is crucial as it forms a basis of survival (Norton, 89). Critically, this means that every creature needs another for security and the assurance that there is someone looking out for them. Since a child cannot defend itself if threatened, it uses the bond it has with its mother to overcome the anxiety and to survive the threats that it faces. For instance: An emotionally and physically healthy mother will be drawn to her infant will feel a physical longing to smell, cuddle, rock, coo, and gaze at her infant. In turn the infant will respond with snuggling, smiling, sucking, and clinging. In most cases, the mother's behaviors bring pleasure and nourishment to the infant, and the infant's behaviors bring pleasure and satisfaction to the mother. This reciprocal positive feedback loop, this maternal-infant dance, is where attachment develops. Therefore, despite the genetic potential for bonding and attachment, it is the nature, quantity, pattern, and intensity of early life experiences that express that genetic potential. Without predictable, responsive, nurturing, and sensory-enriched care giving, the infant's potential for normal bonding and attachments will be unrealized. The brain systems responsible for healthy emotional relationships will not develop in an optimal way without the right kinds of experiences at the right times in life. John Bowlby, working alongside James Robertson observed that children experienced intense distress when separated from their mothers.  Even when such children were fed by other caregivers this did not diminish the child’s anxiety.  These findings contradicted the dominant behavioral theory of attachment (Dollard and Miller, 1950) which was shown to underestimate the child’s bond with their mother.  The behavioral theory of attachment stated that the child becomes attached to the mother because she fed the infant. The argument by the two psychiatrists clarifies that attachment is affected by genetics and not the time spent between the mother and the infant. The attachment theory therefore disqualifies the behavior theory which states that all behavior is learnt from the environment. This is to say that we learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning (Watson, pg.30).  Instability or disruption in relationships in the care system may give infants or children major problems in their ability to trust and therefore attach to parents or caregivers. Children may manifest moderate to severe levels of cognitive, physical and emotional stagnation when not shown adequate attention and affection by a caring and nurturing caregiver. Developing proper levels of attachment with a trustworthy caregiver is essential to the present and future mental health of a child. Attachment refers to the level of connection established between a child and her caregiver during the first years of life. Children who lack secure attachment often do not develop the skills needed to build healthy relationships. They may have difficulty connecting with others, lack trust and self-worth, be afraid of initiating relationships, display anger and be controlling. Children with attachment disorders may feel isolated and insecure. Children receiving inadequate affection may manifest stunted physical growth despite receiving adequate nutrition. Caregivers may display affection to a child knowing that doing so will greatly enhance their physical, cognitive and emotional development. They can display affection by touching appropriately, performing acts of remembrance, creating gifts, singing, reading and including a child as helper in a project. Attachment to our primary caregiver makes all the difference in the world as to how our brains work. Attachment makes us feel loved and safe. It gives us the ability to trust. Our children have been hurt. We must give them structure, love, safety.  Never lose sight of the amount of hurt and damage neglect did to their brains as babies. They are so scared and it comes off as anger. Inside is a frightened little child who needs to learn to love. Lack of this security as a result of lack of attachment makes an infant paranoid and mistrusting as one does not know who to trust and who not to trust. This shows that it is important that a parent forms a bond with his or her children so that they feel secure and know that somebody has their backs no matter what happens (Brenda, 2010, pg.2). Solving of problems arising from poor attachments can be of great help both to the infant and adult. Unresolved childhood attachment issues leave an adult vulnerable to difficulties in forming secure adult relationships. Patterns of attachment continue through the life cycle and across generations. New relations are affected by the expectations developed in past relationships. As a parent, an insecurely attached adult may lack the ability to form a strong attachment to their child and provide the necessary attachment cues required for the healthy emotional development of the child thereby predisposing their child to a lifetime of relationship difficulties. This means that even adults need emotional support so that they can live normal lives and be able to interact with others freely. Those parents with children with disabilities also need to form attachments. If a parent avoids the infant, as the child grows up the process of attachment may not develop. This is because many parents have the vision of having healthy children. By performing duties like giving of medical care, therapy appointments and addressing of problem behaviors, many parents are stressed up thus impacting on the parent child attachment. Therefore, to overcome this problem the caregivers and parents need to fondle, maintaining eye contact, walking, and smiling thus connecting with the child. Another method of improving attachment is helping the mothers with developmentally delayed children by provision of positive social interactions. This is made possible by including maternal education regarding normal growth and development, playing with the children and ways of stimulating the milestones of developing the children like cognition and language (Malekpour,2012, pg. 90). The theory of attachment to some extent lacks cross cultural validity. This is because it comprises of a series of propositions linking several different variables together. There appears to be at most two correlation patterns that would require to be replicated in other cultures before the theory’s cross-cultural validity can be achieved. The adult’s response to the infant’s signals is perceived as one of the major determinants of attachment quality. Responsiveness does not necessarily stand for the same care giving behaviors but it implies cultural ingredients that are variable. Also, pre-schooling years secure attachment relationship should stimulate competence that is socially cognitive than anxious attachment relationships. Dealing with attachment disorder Attachment disorder is the state of a parent and child not being attached and this causes dissonance to bat the child and the parent. This comes as result of negative experiences between the child and the parent. If the young children are repeatedly abandoned, isolated and uncared for they will learn that they depend on nobody and the world is an unsafe place. Many of the children with attachment disorder have been in the fostering and adoption systems and had a removal of all that was familiar at a formative time in their development and attachment disorder may well be the correct diagnosis for many of them but don't forget to look at their exposure in utero too. Reactive disorder and other problems related to attachments occur when the infants are not able to continuously connect to a parent or a primary care giver. Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a rare but serious condition in which infants and young children don't establish healthy bonds with parents or caregivers. A child with RAD typically neglected, abused or orphaned. Reactive attachment disorder develops because the child's basic needs for comfort, affection and nurturing aren't met and loving, caring attachments with others are never established. This may permanently change the child's growing brain, hurting the ability to establish future relationships. Reactive attachment disorder is a lifelong condition, but with treatment children can develop more stable and healthy relationships with caregivers and others. The symptoms of RAD include difficulty in showing genuine care and affection, a conscience that is underdeveloped, having problems with anger, controlling of issues, and finally aversion to touch and showing of physical affection (Mayo Clinic, pg.4). Safe and proven treatments for reactive attachment disorder include psychological counseling and parent or caregiver education. Professional treatment include; family therapy for both for the child and parent and include fun and rewarding activities to enhance the attachment bond; individual psychological counseling of the child itself; play therapy which helps the child to learn the appropriate interaction skills; provision of special education services and finally parenting skills classes. This means that a child who has this condition can be helped by being put through counseling and the parent being given education on how to handle such a child. Besides, the child can be helped to feel loved by finding the things that feel good to the child. Responding to the child’s emotional age using more non-verbal methods of comforting and soothing is also important in treating RAD. Listening, talking and playing with the child is also healthy as quality time together will make the child to open up challenges facing him or her. Effective parenting with attachment disordered children must provide the same key ingredients as secure parent-infant attachment. Parents provide a balance of structure and nurturance, which changes based on the developmental needs and capabilities of the child. Parents must have sufficient support from both inside and outside of the family. A united front is crucial in the parental team, as is support from extended family (Terry & Michael, 1998, pg.34). Therefore, as parent, create and maintain a healing environment you must be proactive: you set the emotional tone, create the emotional climate, take the initiative, and maintain the rules. When you are reactive, you are allowing your child to set the emotional tone, placing her in a position of control. Being proactive involves remaining calm, not taking your child's behavior personally, and dealing with issues and problems as soon as they occur on the front-end but not waiting until the situation escalates out of control (Philadelphia, Levy & Orlans, 1998, pg.24). Conclusion It is therefore concluded that attachments are lasting psychological connectedness between human beings. Consequently, from the above discussion we can conclude that forming attachments between a parent and a child involves understanding the attachment theory and learning the various ways of solving attachment disorders. As a parent, it is important to understand that a child needs emotional attachment for healthy development as she grows. We have also seen that there exists a genetic attachment between a mother and child which means that a child can feel the attachment even when they separated at birth. From that argument therefore, we can disqualify the behavior theory since we can see that the child does not necessarily have to be fed by the mother for her to bond with it. The genetic attachment is what bonds them even though they spend the early years of the baby’s life apart. Moreover, early experiences have an influence in later development. These influences could lead to individual differences in aspects like social skills, behavior, and cognition thus early experience guarantees long-term developmental outcomes (Malekpour, pg.9). We can also see that the behavior of a child or adolescent is to some extent affected by their attachment to their parents as their emotions affect their behavior. This is evident where a child who has secure parents learns to trust other people hence is able to create and maintain relationships with them even when his or her parents are not around. Also, a child who is closely attached to the parents is emotionally stable which enables him or her to grow well both physically and mentally. On the other hand, a child with attachment disorder finds it hard to relate and to trust other people hence develops poorly both mentally and physically. An infant’s attachment to the caregiver is the most important thing in human development. Thereby, emotional connection is the major obligation a parent has to the child. A securely attached infant is capable of utilizing an attachment figure as a secure base to explore the world and self. Summarily, failure to achieve the goals of the parent-child relationship will lead to an inappropriate attachment. This is because children may exhibit moderate to severe levels of physical, cognitive and emotional stagnation when not given adequate attention and affection by a caregiver who is caring and nurturing (Livestrong Foundations, pg 2). To sum up most infants make internal working models of how the relationships work based on their experience with their own attachment figure(s). Although these models are not conscious, they prepare the foundation for the social and emotional development; guiding the children how to see the world, other people, and themselves; and also serve as templates for future relationships, including their relationships with teachers and peers and even their adults. Works Cited Bowlby, J., (1958). The Nature of a Childs Tie to His Mother. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 39: 350-371. Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and Loss; Attachment Heard, D. H. (1982)'Family Systems and the Attachment Dynamic'. 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