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1. ATTACHMENT AND
EARLY SOCIAL
EXPERIENCES
Pg. 257-270
Diana Manuel
Norrie Faye Manzanares

2. Measuring Attachment
The essence of Bowlby’s theory concerns infants’ experience of using the
primary caregiver(s) as a safe base or a source of security. This is well
established and easily understood by many, academics and laypeople alike.
Nevertheless, we can imagine that children’s experiences of this supposed early
and intimate bond with their caring figures may differ somewhat, depending on the
characteristics of that figure, or the child, or perhaps the dynamics of their
relationship. One concept that has received a great deal of attention is the degree
and pattern of ‘security’ in this relationship, with researchers also endeavoring
to study systematically the individual (and group) differences in this relationship.

3. Mary D.S. Ainsworth
• PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENT
• A student of Bowlby in the 1950s.
• She was particularly interested in attachment
behaviours in ‘action’, and how they translate
later into a set of internalised ‘goal-corrected’
representations, which Bowlby proposed, that
can purportedly influence future relationships
and outcomes.

4. Mary D.S. Ainsworth
• Ainsworth went to observe attachment behaviours among the Ganda people in
Uganda in 1954, and then compared them to American samples from Baltimore
(Ainsworth, 1963, 1967).
• She also noticed considerable variations within each sample in terms of the
infants’ frequency and intensity of such behaviours.
• Attachment security: the readiness of an infant to use the primary caregiver to
derive a sense of security that can be reflected in her pattern of attachment
behaviours.
• Strange Situation Experiment

5. Strange Situation Experiment

6. Attachment Types
Attachment types:
patterns of behaviour
observed in the Strange
Situation denoting
differing security of
attachment to the
primary caregiver as a
safe base from which to
explore.

7. Critique of the Experiment

8. Attachment and Childcare
• According to Bowlby’s work, and also other research, it is not so much about
her ‘being there’ or physical availability, but that the mother’s emotional
availability or ‘responsiveness’ is essential for establishing that ‘secure’ bond
with her own child.
• Maternal sensitivity- the emotional sensitivity of the mother to recognise her
child’s cues and to respond to them promptly, appropriately and consistently.
• Positive parenting- “secure attachment”, Negative or rejecting manners-
“insecure-avoidant”, Inconsistent care- “insecure-resistant”, Inadequate
care- “disorganised”.
• Mind-mindedness as the ability of a parent to look at her child as an individual

9. How important is father?
• Father- physical activities and stimulation
• Mother- traditional games
• Play sensitivity- responsiveness to the infant during play
through cooperation and motivation by accepting her initiative,
adapting play to her cognitive capability and responding to her
emotional expressions.
• Convey warmth and confidence on the child

10. Impact of Day care
• In 2007 Bowlby’s son, Sir Richard Bowlby, president of the Centre for
Child Mental Health, stated that infants in non-parental day care can
develop a lasting secondary bond to a carer who is ‘consistently
accessible’. Still, he qualified the statement by saying that this is not the
experience of many babies in some forms of day care – specified as
‘group settings’ – where care is not given by one individual carer.
• In sum, while day-care arrangements give relief to mothers who need to
return to work, the quality of care and the conditions under which care is
taken should be taken into account when choosing a provider.