Emotional attachment is an intense affective bond that leads us to experience an inclination towards a person who, on a psychological level, is important. Let’s see what its bases are and how it develops.
The first author who initiated studies of attachment was John Bowlby who pointed out that the child shows innate behaviors with the purpose that the adult acts to solve their needs, thus creating the bond. Another important author was Ainsworth who carried out one of the best-known experiments with the purpose of finding out what types of attachment existed depending on how the child acted in the different experimental situations.
Thus, there are three forms of attachment that are present in different cultures: secure attachment and two insecure attachments, which are avoidant and ambivalent. Another pattern that has also been observed but less frequently is disorganized, this being the least secure.
In this article we present what is meant by attachment, what are the stages that the child goes through during its construction and establishment, what types of attachment exist and what characteristics of the support figure influence the formation of the bond.
- We recommend you read: “The 7 types of emotional attachment (and its psychological consequences)”
What is emotional attachment?
Attachment is an emotional bond that forms between a person or animal with another being of the same species. This bond that is created between them motivates them to be together in space and time , to achieve proximity to establish physical contact and communicate. This bond-building process begins approximately in the second half of life, that is, at 12 months, and lasts a lifetime.
The first author who studied and raised this concept was John Bowlby. Attachment has a biological component, an internal predisposition, and is developed with the purpose of giving the child security and allowing him to explore the environment, in other words, it allows him to cover the basic need for security and thus deal with feelings of anguish.
In this way, it is important that parents act as a secure base, it is not enough just to be physically accessible but they must also be available and receptive, so that the child can look for it and thus function as a support so that the infant can move. by the environment.
What are the stages of attachment formation?
Although we have pointed out that attachment consists of a lifelong process, it is in the first two years when it is built and appears . This creation process is made up of 4 stages: in the first, which runs from 0 to 2 months, the indiscriminate social response appears where the child recognizes the figure that cares for him but is sociable with everyone; in the second stage, which goes from 2 to 7 months, a discriminatory social response is already produced, he prefers the caregivers but does not complain if they go. In these first two stages attachment is still under construction.
The appearance of attachment occurs in the last two phases: the third, which arises between 7 and 24 months, is already referred to as specific attachment where an intense bond is observed, producing great anguish before the separation from the attachment figure and before the weird; In the last stage that appears after 24 months, the attachment is already mature and has been internalized, a reciprocal relationship has been achieved where the child feels security even though the attachment figure is not there.
Thus, given the process of attachment formation, we will see that children are especially vulnerable to separation between 6 months and 2 years , which is when the bond begins to form.
The “strange situation” experiment
After knowing which are the stages of appearance of attachment, we can say that not all bonds will be the same, if alterations occur in some of the phases and the caregiver figure does not exercise a good secure base, it can lead to different types of attachment. . Bowlby believed that the best time to observe and assess bonding is when the separation between child and parent occurs.
It was the psychologist Mary Ainsworth who in the 1960s developed an experimental situation, called a strange situation, in order to discover the different types of attachment according to the child’s reaction to separation and reunion with the mother and to the presence of a stranger . The children selected as experimental subjects were between 10 and 34 months old, that is, attachment was already present.
The experiment was carried out in a room unknown to the child and lasted less than 30 minutes. During this time, 8 different episodes occurred, on two occasions the mother left, on the first occasion leaving the child alone with a strange figure and on the second occasion she left him alone and the stranger returned first. The mother’s role was to encourage the infant to explore and move around the environment and to comfort the infant if required. The most relevant behavior to observe is how the child reacts and behaves when his attachment figure returns.
How is attachment classified?
When observing and comparing the different patterns of attachment that occur in situations of separation, Ainsworth distinguishes 3 main ones, which are transcultural, that is, they are observed in different cultures although they may present different percentages: secure attachment, which consisted of the most common type and prevalent, it was shown 65% of the time and two types of insecure attachment, where the mother does not act as a secure base: the avoidant or rejecting that appeared in 20% of the subjects and the ambivalent or resistant that was the least frequent with 12%. Let’s see, then, what are the main characteristics of each type of link .
1. Secure attachment
In secure attachment, which, as we have pointed out, is the most common, we observe how the child becomes restless and may cry when the mother leaves , but when she returns the child seeks and accepts her consolation. In this way, the attachment figure acts as a secure base, encouraging the baby to move away from it in order to explore and return when he needs comfort. As a general rule they are cooperative and do not usually get angry.
2. Avoidant attachment
On the contrary, children with avoidant attachment do not show restlessness or cry when the attachment figure disappears and when they return they do not pay attention to him or seek his contact. They can also be very sociable with strangers, that is, they interact with them without problem even if the mother is not present, they do not hesitate to go with him. They are usually angry and reject contact with the mother .
3. Ambivalent attachment
Regarding the third type, the ambivalent type, it is also classified within insecure attachment, we perceive a pattern where the baby is upset and protests very intensely when the mother leaves but when she returns he does not feel comforted , acting in an ambivalent manner He demands contact but when the mother approaches the child he resists with tantrums and more crying. Another remarkable characteristic is that the ambivalent child does not explore and knows little about the environment even when the attachment figure is present.
4. Disorganized attachment
Other investigations carried out later have observed a 4 type of attachment called disorganized or disoriented, also classified as insecure, it is the least typical, present between 3 to 5% of the participants and the most altered and less secure. It consists of a combination of the two previous attachments, resistant and avoidant, where the baby, as its name indicates, shows a disorganized behavior with contradictory behaviors when the support figure returns, for example, he may be happy and suddenly ignore it when she gets close.
What does the attachment we display depend on?
Ainsworth considered that the development of secure attachment depended fundamentally on the sensitivity that the mother had to perceive and meet the needs of her child, if she is able to satisfy the needs, she manages to establish a secure bond and thus the child can explore and know without problem the child. world around you. These mothers who provide a good type of attachment are usually friendly, responsive, treat their children well, and are not easily upset.
On the other hand, children with insecure attachment usually do not have these qualities. In the case of mothers of ambivalent babies, they also display contradictory behaviors, as they are sometimes receptive and affectionate and other times angry and rejecting. They are usually fussy and have a tendency to look out for themselves more than for their child. It is for this reason, because of the mother’s inconsistent behavior pattern, that the child does not know what to expect or what she will do.
On the other hand, the mothers of children with an avoidant bond are usually slow to respond when the child begins to socialize and they do not provide good physical contact either, they are cold, this pattern being perceived by their son who ends up acting the same towards her.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.
