Attachment Theory Explained!

Summary

This video explores attachment theory, focusing on how early relationships with caregivers shape future interactions. The presenter discusses key concepts from psychologists like Konrad Lorenz and John Bowlby, explaining stages of attachment from infancy through early childhood. The 'Strange Situation' experiment by Mary Ainsworth is highlighted, revealing four attachment styles: secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized. Viewers are encouraged to reflect on their childhood attachment patterns and their effects. The video also promotes 'Learn My Tests' for study tools and encourages viewers to subscribe for more psychology content.

Takeaways

• 📚 Practice tests are an effective study method. You can create them for free on Learn My Tests.
• 👶 Attachment theory studies how relationships with primary caregivers during infancy impact future relationships.
• 🐥 Konrad Lorenz's research on geese showed the concept of imprinting during a sensitive period in development.
• 👨‍👩‍👦 John Bowlby adapted Lorenz's work into human attachment stages involving infants and their caregivers.
• 🍼 Pre-attachment stage occurs from 0-2 months, where infants can't differentiate between caregivers and other humans.
• 👶 The attachment-in-the-making stage (2-6 months) is when infants recognize caregivers but don't show distress if they leave.
• 😢 Clear-cut attachment (6 months-4 years) is marked by separation anxiety when the caregiver leaves.
• 👨‍👦 In goal-corrected partnership (3-4 years onward), children understand that caregivers leave and return.
• 🔬 Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment helped identify different attachment styles in children.
• 💔 Four attachment styles observed are secure, resistant (anxious-ambivalent), avoidant, and disorganized.

Q & A

What is attachment theory?

Attachment theory is the study of how relationships with primary caregivers, starting in infancy, influence future relationships in adulthood.

What did Konrad Lorenz discover about geese that contributed to attachment theory?

Konrad Lorenz discovered that baby geese, after hatching, would follow the first thing they saw, believing it to be their mother. He called this a 'sensitive period,' where geese are wired to learn who their mother is.

How did John Bowlby build on Lorenz's work to develop human attachment theory?

John Bowlby adapted Lorenz's findings and created a theory describing stages of human attachment to primary caregivers, which starts in infancy and lays the foundation for future relationships.

What are the four stages of attachment in Bowlby’s theory?

The four stages are: 1) Pre-attachment (0-2 months), where infants cannot differentiate between their mother and others; 2) Attachment in the making (2-6 months), where infants recognize their parents but do not experience distress when they leave; 3) Clear-cut attachment (6 months-4 years), where children experience separation anxiety; 4) Goal-corrected partnership (3-4 years and onward), where children understand that parents will leave and return.

What was Mary Ainsworth’s 'Strange Situation' experiment?

The 'Strange Situation' experiment involved observing a child's behavior in a room with their parent and a stranger to assess how the child reacts to separations and reunions with the parent, identifying different attachment styles.

What behaviors did researchers observe in the 'Strange Situation' experiment?

Researchers observed how the child explored the room, reacted to a stranger entering, and how the child responded to separations and reunions with the parent, focusing on signs of separation anxiety and stranger anxiety.

What are the four attachment styles identified by Ainsworth?

The four attachment styles are: 1) Secure attachment; 2) Anxious-ambivalent attachment; 3) Avoidant attachment; 4) Disorganized attachment.

What is a secure attachment style and how does it manifest in children?

Children with secure attachment experience distress when their mother leaves but are generally friendly with strangers if the mother is present. They are happy when their mother returns and feel comfortable exploring their surroundings.

How does anxious-ambivalent attachment differ from secure attachment?

Children with anxious-ambivalent attachment experience more intense distress when their mother leaves and are often angry when she returns. They are afraid of strangers and stay close to their mother, showing less willingness to explore.

What is disorganized attachment, and what might it indicate?

Disorganized attachment is when a child shows inconsistent and confused behavior, often due to child abuse. These children may feel relief when their mother leaves and prefer strangers, signaling potential issues in the caregiving environment.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction and Overview of Study Tips and Attachment Theory

Brian Collins introduces himself and encourages viewers to practice taking tests as the best study method. He mentions his website (learnmytests.com) where viewers can create practice tests for free. Brian also invites users to add him as a study buddy and promises to send practice tests. He previews the topic of attachment theory, which explores how relationships with parents or caregivers in infancy shape future relationships. The paragraph introduces Konrad Lorenz's discovery about baby geese imprinting and its significance in development, laying the groundwork for the exploration of human attachment.

05:01

🧠 Bowlby’s Four Stages of Attachment Development

John Bowlby’s adaptation of Lorenz's work led to his theory of attachment stages in human infants. These stages are: 1) Pre-attachment (0-2 months) where infants can't differentiate between caregivers; 2) Attachment in the Making (2-6 months) where infants start recognizing their caregivers without showing distress in their absence; 3) Clear-cut Attachment (6 months-4 years) where children experience separation anxiety when caregivers leave; and 4) Goal-Corrected Partnership (3-4 years onward) where children understand that caregivers will return, reducing anxiety. The paragraph provides a structured view of how infant-caregiver attachment evolves over time.

🔬 Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Experiment

The Strange Situation experiment, developed by Mary Ainsworth, builds on Bowlby’s theory and involves observing a child’s interaction with a parent in a playroom setting. The experiment consists of several steps: the introduction of a parent and child into a room, the parent leaving the room, and the reaction of the child being observed. The researchers look for behaviors like how the child explores the room, interacts with strangers, and reacts to the parent’s departure and return. The experiment is designed to evaluate the child’s attachment style by observing their distress, anxiety, or comfort level in various situations.

😟 Four Types of Attachment Styles

Before diving into the attachment styles identified by Ainsworth, the paragraph asks viewers to reflect on their own childhood experiences with separation anxiety and interactions with strangers. The four attachment styles are: 1) Secure attachment, where children are distressed when a caregiver leaves but happy upon return, and feel comfortable exploring with the caregiver as a secure base; 2) Resistant or Anxious-Ambivalent, where children experience intense distress upon separation and are upset at the caregiver’s return; 3) Avoidant attachment, where children show little distress when the caregiver leaves and minimal interest upon return; and 4) Disorganized attachment, often associated with child abuse, where children are relieved when an abusive caregiver leaves and prefer the stranger.

🔄 Recap and Call to Action

The final paragraph summarizes the attachment styles and encourages viewers to ask their parents about their own attachment patterns as children. Brian Collins promotes his platform, learnmytests.com, as a resource to create practice tests and reiterates the invitation to connect as a study buddy. He closes by encouraging viewers to subscribe to his channel for weekly updates and new video content, reinforcing his commitment to posting more psychology-related videos.

Keywords

💡Attachment Theory

Attachment theory is the study of how early relationships with parents or primary caregivers shape future relationships. The video explains how attachment begins in infancy and affects emotional and social development. This concept is central to understanding different bonding behaviors observed in both animals and humans, such as geese imprinting on the first creature they see, as studied by Konrad Lorenz.

💡Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz was an ethologist known for his work on animal behavior, particularly imprinting in geese. In the video, he is mentioned as observing how baby geese follow the first living being they see after hatching, which he identified as a 'sensitive period' for learning and attachment. This concept laid the groundwork for human attachment theory.

💡Sensitive Period

A sensitive period is a specific time in development when an organism is particularly receptive to learning certain skills or behaviors. In the video, this is introduced through Lorenz's work with geese, suggesting that early childhood is a sensitive period for forming attachments, which influences a person's ability to form relationships later in life.

💡John Bowlby

John Bowlby is a psychologist known for developing attachment theory. He adapted Lorenz’s research on animal behavior to create a framework for understanding how human infants bond with caregivers. The video describes Bowlby's four stages of attachment, detailing how infants develop emotional connections to their caregivers over time.

💡Pre-attachment Stage

The pre-attachment stage, according to Bowlby, occurs from birth to two months when infants are unable to differentiate between their caregiver and others. The video uses this stage to explain the initial, undifferentiated interactions an infant has with people before forming stronger attachment bonds.

💡Strange Situation Experiment

The Strange Situation Experiment, developed by Mary Ainsworth, is a study used to assess an infant's attachment to their caregiver. In the video, this experiment is described step-by-step, detailing how a child reacts to the presence of a stranger, separation from their parent, and reunion. It is used to categorize children into different attachment styles.

💡Secure Attachment

Secure attachment is a healthy, emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver, where the child feels comfortable exploring their surroundings but uses the caregiver as a 'secure base.' The video explains how securely attached children are distressed when their caregiver leaves but are happy and comforted upon their return.

💡Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment

Anxious-ambivalent attachment, also known as resistant attachment, is characterized by a child's intense distress when their caregiver leaves and ambivalence when they return. The video associates this attachment style with children who are overly clingy and have difficulty exploring their environment independently, often resulting from inconsistent caregiving.

💡Avoidant Attachment

Avoidant attachment is where a child shows little to no distress when their caregiver leaves and avoids the caregiver upon return. The video explains that children with this attachment style are more independent and often show indifference toward both caregivers and strangers. This style may be linked to emotionally distant or neglectful caregiving.

💡Disorganized Attachment

Disorganized attachment is associated with children who exhibit confusion and fear, especially in the presence of their caregiver, often due to abuse or trauma. The video mentions that this type of attachment is characterized by a child showing relief when their caregiver leaves, and greater comfort around strangers than their own caregiver.

Highlights

Introduction to the video on the theory of attachment and practice tests offered at LearnMyTests.

Attachment theory explains how early relationships with parents or caregivers shape future relationships in adulthood.

Konrad Lorenz's experiment with baby geese led to the discovery of the sensitive period in development when animals recognize their mother.

John Bowlby adapted Lorenz's work to human attachment and developed the four stages of attachment in children.

Pre-attachment stage (0-2 months): Infants cannot differentiate between their mother and other people.

Attachment-in-the-making stage (2-6 months): Infants begin to recognize their parents but do not show distress when separated from them.

Clear-cut attachment stage (6 months to 4 years): Children show separation anxiety when separated from their primary caregiver.

Goal-corrected partnership (3-4 years and onward): Children understand that their parents will leave and return, reducing separation anxiety.

Mary Ainsworth extended Bowlby's work with the 'Strange Situation' experiment to study children's attachment patterns.

Insecure attachment patterns include resistant or anxious-ambivalent attachment, where children show intense distress when separated from their mother.

Avoidant attachment: Children show little separation anxiety and are okay with strangers, indicating potential difficulty forming close relationships.

Disorganized attachment is often associated with child abuse, where children feel relieved when the abusive parent leaves and prefer the stranger.

About 70% of children form secure attachments, which are considered the healthiest and most adaptive attachment style.

The video encourages viewers to reflect on their own childhood attachment patterns and how it affects their current relationships.

Reminder to sign up for LearnMyTests to access practice tests and stay updated on new psychology videos every other week.

Transcripts

hi I'm Brian Collins learn my test

remember the best way to study is to

take practice tests if you don't have

practice tests make them onler my tests

calm its wwr my tests calm create an

account for free to get practice tests

from the content in this video and our

other videos add me as a study buddy on

learn my tests Brian Colin BG Colin at

gmail.com and I'll send you these tests

also we'll be posting new videos every

other week if you like this video please

subscribe here so you can stay updated

on the latest today's topic is the

theory of attachment attachment theory

is the study of how your relationships

with your parents or primary caregivers

starting in infancy lay the foundation

for your future relationships in

adulthood super ologist Konrad Lorenz

watch baby geese hatch from their shells

he was the first face that the goose saw

once they hatched from their shell

Konrad realized that after the geese

hatched they would follow him wherever

he went the geese were wired to believe

whatever they saw when they hatched was

their mother Konrad Lorenz realized the

time geese hatch is an important period

in development for them because they

realized their motherís but he defined a

sensitive period as in as any period in

development where you were wired to

learn something or you're sensitive to

something Bowlby adapted Lawrence's work

to his own coming up with a theory for

the stages of human interactions with

their parents or their primary

caregivers state one is the pre

attachment stage and usually occurs from

zero to two months and it's where the

infant is unable to tell the difference

between his or her mother and other

humans that he or she interacts with

state two is attachment in the making

and usually occurs between two and six

months it's when the infant is able to

recognize who his or her parents are but

does not get upset or distressed when

they are gone Stage three is

we're cut attachment usually occurs

between six months and four years the

child finally in this stage develops

separation anxiety forgets visibly upset

when the mother or attachment figure

leaves the fourth and final stage of

Bobby's theory is called a goal

corrected partnership and usually lasts

from three to four years and onward the

child finally understands that the

parents will leave and come back and so

the child doesn't get as upset when

parents leave hurryings both came up

with a brilliant study idea called the

strange situation experiment that

extended the work of Don Baldy the first

step of Ainsworth study is that the

researcher would introduce a parent and

child to a playroom where they would be

spending most of the study the child's

interactions with the parent will be are

being observed by the researchers

throughout the duration of the study

step two is the parent will go ahead and

sit down and then the child will play

with toys and the researchers are

looking for how far away or how close

the child goes and reference to the

mother if the child stays around where

the mother is this is called

establishing her as a secure base step 3

the stranger comes in sits down and

starts talking to the parent and now

they're looking at how the child is

going to react the stranger coming in

the room is the child going to not mine

the stranger is the child going to get

scared and move closer to the mother how

is the child going to react episode 4

the mother leaves the room and leaves

the child alone with the stranger and so

now we're looking at does the child get

stress and shows separation anxiety when

the mother leaves the room so in step 5

the stranger leaves the room and then

mom comes back in the room and so now

the researchers are looking for the

child's reaction of the mother for

example it does the child not care or is

the child

agree with the mother for leaving or it

is the child just happy to see their

mother step six is when the parent

leaves the room and then the child is

left all alone and so what the

researchers are looking for here is

again separation anxiety so as the child

look is this child start crying and get

really distressed or does he not really

care when the mother leaves

step 7 the stranger re-enters and tries

to comfort the child and what the

researchers are really looking here is

to see if the child is able to be

soothed by a stranger in step 8 the

parent returns to the room and tries to

comfort the child and introduces some

toys and what they're really look what

the researchers are looking for is

really how the child reacts to the

reunion when the parent is the child

getting angry at the parent believing or

is he happy to see them up north

identified four attachment styles but

before we get into those I want you to

think about if you were distressed when

you had to leave your mother or father

did you experience separation anxiety

how are you toward strangers are you

generally friendly or not as friendly

when your parents left were you happy to

see them or not as happy to see them did

you feel more comfortable exploring your

surroundings or did you feel like your

parents needed to be with you a lot of

the time as a child so think about those

questions and then we're going to go

forward and discuss the four different

attachment patterns that Ainsworth

observed in her research

first Isle of attachment is called

secure attachment and so secure

attachment children are definitely

distressed when the mother leaves the

room and when the stranger comes in

they're definitely avoided of the

stranger or they avoid the stranger

unless the mothers in the room and then

if the mothers in the room they're

friendly they're generally happy when

the mother comes back into the room and

when they're in the room of the mother

they generally feel free to explore the

room but they always glance back to see

where the mother is they're definitely a

tenant where the mother is in the room

about 70 percent of children are

securely attached if you think about the

attachment bonds you have with friends

or family you know it's normal to get

sad and healthy to get sad when they

leave and it's also normal to feel

really really happy when you get to see

them again and you haven't seen them in

a while

normal and healthy who want to meet new

people while you're with friends and

people that you have an attachment with

it's a lot harder to meet strangers by

yourself and so this is completely

normal and so this is why secure

attachment is the most common and also

the healthiest according to two

psychological research the ex attachment

pattern is called resistant or anxious

ambivalent these children experience

intense distress when the mother leaves

the room even more so than secure

attached and the infant is generally

afraid of the stranger and when the

mother returns in the room the child is

generally upset at the mother for

leaving her or him children with

resistant or anxious ambivalent

attachment generally have trouble

exploring the room they generally stay

really close to the mother about 15

percent of children have anxious

ambivalent attachment and it's been

associated with child abuse is generally

less adaptive than secure attachment

avoidant attachment pattern usually

occurs in 15% of children and avoidant

attachment is the child doesn't really

get separation anxiety when the mother

leaves and is okay with the stranger

plays normally with the stranger and

shows interests shows little interest in

the mother when she

turns in the room children with avoidant

attachment patterns may be more likely

to engage in antisocial behavior and

also have you know difficulty forming

close relationships with others so

disorganized attachment is commonly seen

when there's some sort of child abuse

going on and so what happens is the

child is actually relieved when the

mother leaves because the mother may be

abusive and is warm and happy to see the

stranger and even happier to see the

stranger than the mother psychologists

in some cases will look for disorganized

attachment patterns among the children

to help identify if there's any child

abuse going on now may be a good time to

call your parents and ask what your

attachment pattern was as a child

thank you for watching remember to sign

up for learn my tests and create your

own practice tests to study or if you

need practice tests on any of this

content or any of our other video

content on our youtube channel add me as

a study buddy on learn my tests that's B

G : at gmail.com also it will be posting

new psychology videos like this every

week so if you like this video please

subscribe by clicking to learn my tests

icon below to get updated on our latest

video content thank you so much for

watching