Psychology Evolutionary Theory 2022

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
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PSYCHOLOGY1
Introduction
Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment explicates that children inherit the
biologically pre-programme for establishing connections with other individuals to live
successfully. Bowlby understood that attachment behavioural patterns are intuitive and tends
to be stimulated by any conditions, which appear to intimidate the accomplishment of
proximity related to separation, lack of security, anxiety and fear. Holmes (2015) has noted
that attachment theory postulates that a child initially tends to establish one type of
attachment which acts as a protection base for all potential social associations. Thus
disruption in attachment relationship has the propensity to result to severe consequences. The
aim of the paper is to evaluate how attachment theory explains child and adolescent
behavioural patterns.
Discussion
Understanding the evolutionary foundation of attachment is profoundly useful while
considering behaviour of children, adolescents and their parents. Woodhouse, Ayers and
Field (2015) have explained that attachment behaviours indicates distress, fear along with the
need for care and comfort in several conditions which are programmed by human biology
that is fear of isolation, separation and being left alone. Such type of programming is so
essential that children and adolescents tend to have insignificant amount of control over the
fear or anguish they experience. The feelings of intimacy and affection in attachment
relationships are allied to neural and biochemical substrates. These feelings normalize
response of the child to parent closeness, comfort and protection, as well as the parent's
attachment to the child’s goals for protection (Schiffrin 2014). Relationships which lack
mutual pleasure and in which parent does not share child attachment goals and respond to
genuine attachment of child and adolescents needs, foster a chronic and intense negative
impact.

PSYCHOLOGY2
The development course of attachment in childhood is highly crucial for social care
practitioners to explain importance of attachment theory in childhood behaviour. Studies of
Bowlby (2018) has found that infants develop distinctive and qualitatively diverse
attachments with each of their primary caregivers. These relationships emerge gradually over
the initial three years of life. Early inclinations for human relationships such as human face
and voice along with the affectionate appearance of mother are strongly attached.
Furthermore, implicit memory procedures facilitate recognition and recall memory for events
and people specifically when infants tend to assume that they can regulate interesting events.
Additionally, by five months an infant exhibits comprehensive range of emotion expressions
and associates with relationship-guided emotion regulation and communication (Page 2015).
Also, between six and nine months of age, the infant evidently distinguishes among different
attachment figures. It is regarded as a developmental shift which is guided by strong
demonstration of the need of intimacy and by separation and apprehension towards stranger.
The infant at this age thus explains “person permanence”. Attachment is explained by
attachment and is manifested by cognitive-affective representational models of associations.
These internal occupied models create a shift in attachment behavioural patterns and
processes and they permit the child to expect, assess and create plans with caregivers not only
to respond to their presence.
Vicedo (2017) has proposed that attachment theory can be altered during process of
psychotherapy. It has been noted that adult attachment study has proposed that there can be
observed steadiness in the style ranging from infancy through adolescence. It further ranges
into maturity in such a process that an individual obtain understanding to control nervousness
rising from deficiency of constructive attachment experience to main caretaker at the initial
stage in life. As per the view of Duschinsky, Greco and Solomon (2015), social care
practitioner can develop a protected base and attain a place of connection figures to aid