Attachment Styles

Traditionally, children are though to attach to their parents one of three ways. There is a fourth attachment style, but it is very uncommon. Attachment styles are secure attachment, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant, and disorganized. Attachments form in the second half of the first year, shown by separation anxiety. The first few years of life are the most critical, but attachments evolve through life. The psychoanalytic theory of attachment is no longer taken seriously by researchers, but was linked to gratification of innate drives. The Learning Theory attributed attachment to the primary drive of hunger being reduced by a primary reinforcer (food) and a secondary reinforcer is one who feeds. Cognitive developmental theory states that specific attachment requires object permanence and begins to form when children begin to understand this. The most important is Bowlby's ethological theory, which says that infant attachment has roots in instictual infant responses important for survival and protection. Smiling and crying, an infants early social signaling systems, play an active role in the forming of attachments. Most children are securely attached, so they turn to others for support and are comforted by those he/she is close to. With insecure-avoidant attachment, the person follows "rules" that restrict acknowledgement of distress and didn't seek comfort or support. The last style of attachment that is most common is for those who direct attention to their own distress and worry about those they are attached to. This inhibits self confidence.