The Psychology of Early Socialisation: Theories of Attachment and the Effects of Deprivation, Separation and Enrichment

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
The Psychology of Early Socialisation: Theories of Attachment and the Effects of
Deprivation, separation and enrichment.
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Attachment behaviour are primarily characterised by several ways of behaving and
interacting in relationships. The attachment styles in early childhood are primarily
centred on how the parents and children interact with each other. Animal studies are
used in attachment owing to the fact that evolutionary approaches principally consider
human being as complex and multifaceted organisms. They elaborate on the fact
similar principals that are applicable to behaviour of different animal species, are
correspondingly appropriate for understanding human behaviour (Rockett and Carr
2014). Hence, animal studies of attachment are carried out with the aim of developing
an awareness of the procedures involved in human attachment. A huge seize of
greylag goose eggs was split into two categories by Lorenz, followed by recording of
gosling behaviour, after hatching. The findings of this animal study suggested that
imprinting attachment observed in humans, is also manifested by nidifugous birds.
Another research conducted by Harlow involved wire surrogate mothers and baby
monkeys (Bowlby 2018). This research also indicated that similar to humans, rhesus
monkeys also display an unlearned, innate, need for contact comfort, hence signifying
that attachment is associated more with emotional security, than food. Thus, findings
from animal research helps in providing necessary insight into different aspects of
human behaviour.
2. According to the learning theory, infants acquire to be attached to primary caregivers,
under the influence of classical and operant conditioning. This theory was proposed
by Dollar and Miller who stated that attachment is a direct consequence of nurture, in
place of nature. The theory also states that infants are typically born in ‘blank states’
and all of the behaviour that they manifest is learned from the adults, and not innate
(Fonagy 2018). This theory is also referred to as ‘cupboard love theory’ owing to the
fact that it suggests that with increase in attachment of the infant to a particular

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caregiver, the former learns that the guardian or caregiver has the capability of
meeting their nutritional and physiological needs. This makes the infants become
more attached to caregivers, who provide them with necessary food. The importance
of the theory can be accredited to the fact that it focuses on classical condition,
whereby a child learns to form associations with the caregivers, with the immediate
needs of feeding being met, which in turn results in the development of an attachment.
One major strength of this theory is that it provides exhaustive explanation on the
mechanism of attachment formation (Holmes 2014). However, there are several
psychological studies that hint at the fact that attachments developed between
caregivers and infants are not merely controlled by feeding needs.
3. Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment is occasionally referred to as
an evolutionary theory. The theory suggests that human phenomena and behaviour
can be elucidated through the procedure of natural selection. Characters which
presented the ancestors an existence or reproductive advantage over other animals, in
the environment of evolutionary adaptation (EEA), are generally passed on to their
offspring, and as a consequence last to exist and multiply (Goldberg 2014). The
theory also stated that attachment is a crucial adaptive superiority that has progressed
to intensify the chance of existence through proximity-seeking conduct. Furthermore,
the theory also illustrated that infants need a qualitatively exceptional relationship to
mature and progress an internal functioning model, concomitant with emotional
maturity. According to Holmes (2014) this distinct bond is referred to as the
monotropic bond of attachment, and has been found imperative in maintaining close
proximity between an infant and the parent, thus offering the infant adequate
opportunities for development of skills. One major strength of this theory is that it
helps in gaining an insight into the fact that infants develop primary attachment, even

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when they are reared by numerous carers (Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg 1988).
However, one weakness of this theory can be accredited to the fact that Howes
provided evidences that were against the statements postulated by Bowlby. Howes
suggested that parent-child relations were not essentially identical to child-peer
relations, thus disproving the theory.
4. The evolutionary theory of Bowlby also helps in illustrating the fact that attachment is
observed as a biological progression, owing to the fact that the theory argues that
infants are born along with an attachment gene that instructs them to display innate
activities, commonly referred to as social releasers. These releasers play an important
role in increasing their probabilities of accepting care such as, crying, clinging, and
smiling (Smith 2017). However, the theory also focused on social anxiety by
elaborating on the fact that children have an inborn necessity to grow a close
association with one chief figure, typically the mother. Under circumstances, when
such associations do not happen, it has undesirable and adverse consequences on
infant development, thereby bringing about a deterioration in their intellect,
concomitant with the onset and progress of depression, delinquency, violence, and
affectionless psychopathy. Hence, separation anxiety develops in such infants when
they get separated from their carers, and typically comprises of the need for a high
degree of comfort, upon return. The infants usually look for specific people for safety,
comfort and security. It displays fear of foreigners (stranger fear) and discontent,
when parted from a special person (separation anxiety) (Bowlby 2018). Hence, it can
be stated that children who develop secure attachment with their mothers manifest
social anxiety when their mother leaves, and also demonstrate noticeable signs of
distress, thereby confirming the fact that infants gain pleasure under the presence of
their caregivers.

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5. Although Aisha adores her little sister and actively participates in feeding her, she has
not been able to form a secure attachment with the infant. The scenario can be
explained by the fact that the infant displays social releasers, with the aim of
remaining close to her caregiver (Aisha’s mother), who will protect and feed the
child. Success of her mother in immediately addressing the needs of her child can be
accredited to the fact that parents impulsively shield their infants and take all possible
efforts care for the former, while they are young and unprotected, during the time that
is commonly referred to as the critical period (Yaakobi and Goldenberg 2014). The
fact that Aisha is often not able to soothe her sister during crying, can also be
explained by one particular feature of the theory that associations of infants
(frequently with their mothers) are more significant for attachment, which in turn
govern the drive of mothers to provide a safe and secure environment to their children
(Stanton and Campbell 2014). The behaviour of Aisha and her mother can also be
explained by the fact that Bowlby considered attachment behaviors to be natural and
that they will get triggered by any circumstances that seem to intimidate the
accomplishment of proximity, such as, insecurity, feeding needs and separation.
6. A longitudinal study can be conducted for determining the kind of attachment that is
developed between infants and their mothers. This will be a type of observational
study where the data will be collected for similar subjects, recurrently, over a definite
period of time. The research sample will comprise of women who are first-time
pregnant, selected through convenience sampling. This type of non-probability
sampling method will allow selection of the research subjects owing to their
proximity and accessibility to the researcher. The primary mode of data collection
will be Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) that will be provided to the women
during their pregnancy, and after child birth at an interval of three months, till their

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kids attain one year age (Schoenmaker et al. 2015). Presenting a structured pattern of
questions to the same research subjects, over a considerable period of time will
facilitate the attachment type that they had intended to foster with their child, and
would thereby compare it with the attachment types that were developed after the
birth of their child. Scoring the interview responses from the mothers and their
pairwise comparisons with the help of Bonferroni Test would help the psychologist to
investigate the attachment type developed with the infants.
7. The attachment theory proposed by Ainsworth focuses on the caregiving hypothesis
that suggests that the quality of attachment of an infant largely depends on the type of
attachment that it receives from the primary caregiver, most commonly the mother.
This theory led to the formulation of the strange situation procedure whereby, the
infant behaviours were investigated, in relation to a sequence of eight episodes, each
of which approximately lasted for three minutes (Van Rosmalen, Van Der Horst and
Van der Veer 2016). Upon scoring the infant behaviour, three types of attachment
styles were identified namely, insecure avoidant (type A), secure (type B), and
insecure ambivalent/resistant (type C). Although Ainsworth conducted most of the
research in the USA, the practices of child rearing have been found to vary
considerably amid nations, in terms of traditions, views about children, and
environment. Additionally, there are two major types of culture namely, collectivist
culture and individualist culture. The former values cooperation with one another,
working towards group or family goals and is prevalent in Israel and Japan, thus also
referred to as ‘eastern culture’. In contrast, the latter places a due emphasis on valuing
independence with one another, to accomplish individual goals, and is prevalent
across the Europe and USA, also known as ‘western culture’ (LeVine 2014). In other
words, the values and norms of a society are found to exert a direct influence on the

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behaviours and beliefs of a person. Therefore, cultural differences in the manner by
which a mother treats the infants, have an increased likelihood of creating an impact
on the type of attachment association that develops between the two.
8. The features are explained below:
 Deprivation- This scientific term summarises the impacts of damage to or loss
of an attachment. It has been stated that infant and young child are expected to
experience an intimate, warm, and incessant relationship with the mothers.
Given this kind of association, emotions of anxiety and apprehensions often
originate under circumstances when the child is dispossessed of the much
needed care and warmth (Reeves 2018).
 Separation- In natural circumstances, infants who are taken away from their
mothers are found to be in prodigious danger. Over time, only the infants who
manifest instinctive concerns for staying at a location, near their mothers,
display an increased likelihood of surviving, for producing the next
generation.
 Privation- This commonly refers to the lack or absence of basic necessities
such as, water and food. With relation to attachment, privation has been found
to occur when the infant does not have any opportunity of developing a
relationship with the caregiver or guardian, or under circumstances when the
associations are distorted, due to treatment. This is in clear contrast to
deprivation that is marked by detachment of an established relationship
(Reeves 2018).
 Enrichment- This refers to the process by which the association between an
infant and the caregiver is made more substantial, meaningful, and rewarding.

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9. According to Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation, an intimate, warm and
unceasing connexion with a mother (or similar guardian figure) is essential for healthy
psychological and emotional expansion. The theory takes into account the fact that
mother love during infancy plays a crucial role in mental wellbeing of a child. Some
of the major consequences of maternal deprivation, as elucidated by this theory
encompass failure in forming attachments in future, inability to experience remorse,
manifestation of adolescent behavioural problems, and difficulties with cognitive
development (Raz 2014). Hence, the theory elaborated on the fact that children have
an inborn and innate need to remain attached to a guardian figure, and should be given
continuous care for the initial two years of their lives. It was also stated that
mothering is virtually inoperable if deferred till after two and a half years and, for
maximum kids, if delayed till 12 months, or critical period. Long term consequences
of maternal deprivation have also been associated with reduced intelligence and
depression among the kids (Marco et al. 2015). Furthermore, short-term separation
from the mother or attachment figure was also postulated to generate substantial
distress amid the children. Additionally, the theory also mentioned that the attachment
relationship of a child with the primary caregivers results in the generation of an
internal working model that acts in the form of a cognitive framework and governs the
mental representations of self, world, and others.
10. According to maternal deprivation theory, infants typically do not develop normally
unless they are provided the necessary warmth and loving attention of their
attachment figures. Anaclitic Depression is a major impact where infants who are
emotionally and socially deprived by rejecting and hostile parents, begin manifesting
social ineptitude, apathy, absence of any verbal expression, or physical morbid
rigidity. They also manifest catatonic contracture, which is marked by vacant staring

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and unresponsiveness towards normal environmental stimulation (Nishi, Horii-
Hayashi and Sasagawa 2014). These children are often plagued with stress, as
contradiction in parental handling of the kid, together with recurrent and penetrating
variations in mood and reactivity that lead to development of anxiety. Ominpresent
anxiety is another consequence where such affected infants become likely to reside in
obscurities of a social group, attending rather than contributing, and favouring privacy
of withdrawal, above interchange of involvement. In the long run, the children also
develop moods of weakness and progressively refrain from endeavouring to govern
their environment.
11. Institutionalisation refers to the behavioural manifestation of kids who have been
raised and reared in institutions like children homes. Time and again research
evidences have elaborated on the fact that institutionalisation makes poor parents,
leads to attachment disorder, and deprivation dwarfism. According to Rutter et al.
(2010) findings from the English and Romania Adoptees (ERA) postulated that
deprivation-specific patterns like disinhibited attachment, quasi-autism, overactivity,
inattention, and cognitive impairment were prevalent among young people from
Romanian institutions. The findings elaborated on the presence of a high degree of
perseverance to 16+ years of age, an extraordinary determination of the robust
connotation with institutional deprivation, and highlighted the probability that there
was rationality across four distinct deprivation-specific forms. Additionally,
psychosocial deprivation in the lack of sub-nutrition was complemented by a stunted
brain growth, under circumstances when institutional deprivation persisted for a long
time. Le Mare and Audet (2006) also conducted a study for determining the health
and physical growth of early-deprived, Romanian post-institutionalized orphans and
suggested the presence of significant retardation in growth among the children.

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However, the findings failed to demonstrate any noteworthy difference in weight and
height of the children. They also suggested that the rearing circumstances in these
establishments were awful, and the kids were tremendously underprivileged in all
respects. Undernourished, they spent the bulk of their days unaided, in cribs missing
in physical, auditory, social, and visual stimulus. Nonetheless, the researchers were
also not able to highlight the presence of precocious puberty in the research
population.
12. The quality of the first attachment of an infant is critical owing to the fact that it
robustly affects the kind of their impending relationships. An infant whose initial
experience is of an affectionate relationship with a dependable caregiver, has the
tendency to assume the course of development of the relationship. They will search
for purposeful relationships and perform functionally, without being ardently involved
or close to the caregivers (Malchiodi and Crenshaw 2015). In addition, an infant who
has bad experiences of the initial attachment will often bring the immoral
involvements to bear on future life relations. These persons might also struggle to
develop appropriate associations in the first place, or might start behaving in an
inappropriate manner, while managing relationship development.

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