Attachment-Necessary for Survival (Part 2)
Many of the people who read this blog entry will connect most strongly to the concept of Secure Attachment. While Bowlby provided practitioners with strong evidence on the importance and necessity of the infant’s survival through these first relationships, he did not provide the categories now used to classify infant attachments. It was Bowlby’s student, Mary Ainsworth, who developed three different categories: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and ambivalent attachment.
These categories were created through observations conducted in a laboratory setting that would become known as the Strange Situation (click here for more information). The researchers analyzed the tapes. From both the parent and the infant’s separations and reunions the three classifications were developed. The idea being that through stress our attachment systems are activated.
Human infants, in my opinion, are the most helpless type of infant. Most mammals are born and are able to walk within moments and quickly learn the necessary survival strategies from their mothers and fathers. If you have ever held a newly born infant you will understand this idea of helplessness. In the study of the Attachment Theory it is this helplessness we see shaped through hundreds of interactions with our caregivers. Over time we begin to fall into one of the identified categories.
A securely attached infant trusts that their caregivers will meet their needs whether that is hunger, a soiled diaper, emotional regulation or simply a desire to be held and snuggled. This trust comes from an expectation that the parent has met their need in the past and the hope that the caregiver will continue to do so. Demonstrated through the Strange Situation, these infants become distressed when their caregiver leaves the room. They may take comfort from the stranger or they may not. The infant may try to distract themselves with toys, however, more often than not, the infant will stay near the area where their caregiver left and will cry until their caregiver’s return to the room. At this reunion the infant will lift his hands to his mother, making eye contact while doing so. The mother will quickly pick up her son and within moments the infant has relaxed, once again become regulated, and will be ready to continue exploration and play in his environment.
Longitudinal research has found that these infants will be better able to regulate their own emotions, make friends easily, tolerate transitions with age-appropriate ease, and, most of the time, be cooperative with directions given from adults. As the infants grow into adults, researchers have found that these individuals are better able to form healthy romantic relationships and will, eventually, bear infants who also become securely attached.
Another piece of this puzzle was found from Ainsworth’s student, Mary Main,
who formed the Adult Attachment Interview. In this semi-structured interview, Main found that adults who classify in the securely attached category were the same who could talk about distressing moments in their lives with clarity. A securely attached client would present in therapy as someone who is able to regulate their emotions, speak with clarity over a distressing event, and are able to take other viewpoints into consideration.
