John Bowlby's decades of work into
parent-child attachment has led to a
huge body of research into bonds and
relationships. Now an attachment can be
described as a long-enduring emotional
tie to a specific person and according
to Bowlby such bonds are rooted in
evolutionary development. Now babies have
an innate drive to form an attachment
with a primary caregiver pretty
sharpish and that's so that they can
guarantee someone a little bit bigger
and a lotta bit stronger is there for
them to protect them from danger. Now
Bowlby suggests that there are five key
innate behaviors that babies have in
their arsenal straight out of the belly
to secure them this satisfactorily
"whipped" primary caregiver. Now if you
watched last time's video you'll know
that these behaviors are sucking
cuddling looking smiling and crying SCLSC
So how does an attachment develop?
Well Bowlby identifies four stages. The
first phase called pre attachment covers
the first two months from birth. In this
time babies already show a portfolio of
interaction and attachment-seeking
behaviors even without any personal
social experience - they truly are natural
people pleasers. In this phase babies
demonstrate a marked preference for a
human over a nonhuman stimuli. For
example, a child of this age is much more
likely to want to look at a face than at
a beach ball and straightaway they're
able to exhibit these signaling
behaviors such as smiling and crying to
attach and maintain attention. The
second stage, attachment in the making,
is the precursor to full-on genuine
attachment. From 2 to 7 months, babies
acquire the basic social rules of
interacting with others such as
turn-taking
and shared attention. At this stage of
development, the primary caregiver is
doing a huge amount of the legwork on
behalf of the infant, teaching them the
basic rules of play of turn taking and
demonstrating interaction
through things like baby talk
conversation and playing with the baby.
Bowlby's third stage is what he calls
clear-cut attachment, emerging between
seven months and two years.Now this
stage loosely lines up with Bowlby's
concept of a critical period of
attachment, though this idea is somewhat
out of fashion at the moment which we're
going to talk about in next time's video.
By this stage infant shows undeniable
indications of having formed a specific
attachment. For example, it's at this
point that a baby demonstrates the
ability to miss their primary caregiver
and doesn't treat all adults
indiscriminately. It's no longer squishy
baby cuddles for all, it's specific love
for a specific person. The final of
Bowlby's four stages is a goal corrected
partnership and it's at this stage that
the infant's behaviors, from two years,
become increasingly intentional. A
younger infant would cry because they're
in pain whereas an infant at this stage
of development will cry in order to
summon their primary caregiver and this
is a hugely sophisticated form of social
interaction - not only are they responding
to their own needs and goals but they're
able to manipulate those of others by
calculating primary caregiver's own
personal goals into their
decision-making and behavior and it
shows that the infant has now developed
the basics of a relationship. As these
skills develop, a child can move beyond
the initial use of external behaviors
and draw on increasingly complex
understandings of internal feelings and
expectations. It's at this point that
Bowlby's concept of internal working
models really comes into force and the
basis of all future relationships and
interactions are built on these
foundational interactions with a
person's primary caregiver. Thank you for
watching this one if you've enjoyed it
please subscribe to the channel, give it
a thumbs up to let other people know
that it's a good one to watch to revise
for this topic, and as always I will see
you next time for more exam busting
videos on
psychology here on Psychology Unlocked
