What is the Role of Attachment?

One of the most important items that any child carries with him is his relationship with
his primary caregiver. This person is usually his mother but may also be his father,
grandmother, or someone else entirely. This very first relationship is the basis for his
relationship with you.
What we know about early relationships really began with John Bowlby, whose ideas
are so much a part of our thinking today that its hard to imagine how revolutionary they
seemed just 50 years ago. While studying children who had been separated from their
parents at a young age, the British psychoanalyst came to believe that a babys
relationship with his closest caregivers plays a key role in development. Infants are
emotional beings who naturally form strong bonds with their parents, Bowlby
recognized, and the way those special adults interact with their baby wields a powerful
influence on how he turns out (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1969/1982).
Bowlby (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1969/1982) realized that human infants, like
other animal species, are born with instinctive behaviors that help them to survive. Acts
such as crying, smiling, vocalizing, grasping, and clinging keep babies close to their
primary caregivers, who protect them from predators, feed and soothe them, and teach
them about their environment. These attachment behaviors, as Bowlby (Ainsworth et
al., 1978; Bowlby, 1969/1982) called them, help to create attachmentchildrens vital
emotional tie to their primary caregiver or attachment figure. Nature equips attachment
figures with their own innate and complementary behaviorssoothing, calling,
restraining, for instancethat also serve to keep babies safe and cement the bond
between mother and child (Ainsworth et al., 1978).
In pioneering studies in the 1950s and 1960s, American psychologist Mary Ainsworth
(Ainsworth et al., 1978) confirmed Bowlbys theory by documenting for the first time the
emotional impact of parents everyday behavior on their children. In Uganda and then in
Baltimore, Ainsworth meticulously observed mothers and babies at home over the first
year of life. She watched the process of attachment unfold as the babies came to
recognize, prefer, seek out, and become attached to their primary caregiver.
These observations enabled Ainsworth to make a critical discovery: A babys sense of
security depends on how his attachment figure cares for him. During the first year of life
an infant evolves an attachment strategya way to organize feelings and behavior
that is tailor-made for coping with his own unique caregiving situation. The strategy he
develops is the one that will deal best with his particular stressful circumstances and
negative emotions and bring him the most security and comfort possible (van
IJzendoorn, Schuengel, and Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999; Weinfeld et al., 1999). All
attachment strategies are normal, adaptive, and functional; the trouble is that what
works best within the childs family may not work outside it (Greenberg, DeKlyen,
Speltz, and Endriga, 1997).
The Strange Situation
In Uganda, Ainsworth (Ainsworth et al., 1978) observed that babies in unthreatening
situations used their mother as a secure base from which to explore their environment,
at ease as long as they could connect to her with a touch or a smile. When they felt
stressedif their mother left the room, for exampletheir attachment behaviors kicked
in and sent them searching for her reassurance. But in Baltimore, where mothers and
infants didnt spend as much time together, babies explored more freely and didnt
seem to mind when their mothers came and went. Did secure-base behavior exist in
North America, Ainsworth wondered? To find out, she devised the Strange Situation
(Ainsworth et al., 1978), a 20-minute laboratory procedure for 12-month-old babies and
their mothers that approximates real-life events. In eight short episodes, the mother
leaves and returns twice, gradually increasing the babys stress.
The procedure demonstrated that North American babies do indeed display secure-
base behavior, but it showed much more: The Strange Situation illuminated the whole
field of attachment by revealing two types of attachment that had not been apparent in
the home setting (Karen, 1998).
As Ainsworth (Ainsworth et al., 1978) expected, babies who were securely
attached played comfortably with the toys in the laboratory, became upset
when their mother left, and greeted her eagerly on her return, warmly
accepting comfort from her.
But infants who were unhappy at homewho cried angrily, clung to their
mothers, and therefore seemed insecurely (or anxiously) attachedfell into
two distinct categories in the laboratory (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Weinfeld,
Sroufe, Egeland, and Carlson, 1999). Some stayed at their mothers side,
became extremely stressed when separated from her, wanted her when she
returnedbut cried or squirmed in her arms, resisting her soothing attempts.
Ainsworth labeled their attachment resistant or ambivalent. A second group of
babies seemed utterly blas in the lab. They played alone, didnt protest when
their mother departed, and paid no attention when she came back. Although
these infants looked secure and independent, Ainsworth knew from her home
observations that they were not. She termed them avoidantly attached.
In 1985, researchers Mary Main and Judith Solomon (1986) identified a fourth
group of infants who didnt fit into the three original categories. These babies,
who had what they called a disorganized/disoriented attachment, behaved
bizarrely in the Strange Situation, approaching their mothers backward, with
head averted, or in a trancelike state (Lyons-Ruth and Jacobvitz, 1999; Main
and Solomon, 1986).