Attachment - Three Main Propositions Of Attachment Theory

Bowlby's seminal three-volume series on attachment and loss and subsequent work by his student, Mary Dinsmore Salter Ainsworth, form the core of attachment theory. There are three main propositions. The first is that infants' emotional ties to their caregivers can be viewed from an evolutionary perspective. Consider, for example, that closeness with adults can be viewed as an adaptive strategy for children because it leads to protection from environmental hazards, such as predators. Throughout the long evolution of human history, children who did not develop close relationships with their parents were less likely to survive and therefore less likely to reproduce. It is difficult to prove this thesis because there is no fossil record for social behavior. Still, it seems likely that attachment behaviors provided an evolutionary advantage.

Second, attachment is grounded in what is called a motivational control system, which organizes children's behavior. Just as physiological control systems are believed to regulate processes such as body temperature, a behavioral control system balances a child's desires to explore the environment and to seek proximity with caregivers, especially in the presence of danger. In this system, the child's primary goal is to feel safe and secure. Feelings of security, however, are dependent on caregivers' responses. When caregivers are sensitive and responsive, children are confidant that their needs will be met and that they may rely on their caregivers in times of stress. In contrast, when caregivers are insensitive and unresponsive, children become distrustful of their caregivers and are unable to rely on them. In the face of insensitive caregiving, infants develop strategies that are adaptive in context, for example avoiding or clinging to caregivers.

Third, early experience guides later behaviors and feelings via internal working models of attachment—"internal" because they reside in the mind, "working" because they guide perceptions and behaviors, and "models" because they are cognitive representations of relationship experiences. In other words, children store knowledge about relationships, especially knowledge about safety and danger, in models that guide their future interactions. Each new interpersonal interaction is processed and interpreted according to children's representations.

These models are assumed to operate, for the most part, outside of conscious experience. Knowledge gained from interactions with primary caregivers, typically parents, is of greatest importance; for example, children with loving parents develop positive models of relationships based on trust. Simultaneously, children develop parallel models of themselves; for example, children with loving parents view themselves as worthy of care. These models are assumed to generalize from parents to other people in children's lives, including friends and teachers. So, a child will assume that a friend or teacher is trustworthy if the child's primary caregiver is trustworthy.