Discuss role of attachment in childhood emotional development.

Psychology Essay

The role of attachment in childhood emotional development is imperative, as the bond of attachment in infants to the person who takes care of them, is sometimes said to lay the foundations for all later relationships.

Until some forty years ago it was widely believed that the love for the mother was a direct consequence of the fact that she provided the means to satisfy basic biological needs-she provided food, warmth, physical protection and relief from pain.

The cupboard theory has been criticised on several grounds, one being the fact that babies often show great interest in people other than those who feed them. For example infants seem to enjoy being cuddled, smiled at, and played with and there is not one shred of evidence to indicate that babies enjoy peek-a-boo, say, only because it is associated with food.

Concerns such as these led British psychiatrist John Bowlby to argue that infants find this social interaction intrinsically rewarding.

"The mother"

Young child with book.

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Attachment is a very important factor in childhood development many psychologists argue that, a child born into a loving and caring family home with both parents forms loving attachments and has a greater chance of being a well adjusted and happy adult, whereas some infants born into a dysfunctional family and who through no fault of their own find themselves due to their parents inability to look after them for whatever reason, e.g. drug addiction ill health etc in care this could result in these children having emotional problems and have difficulty forming a loving caring relationship in their own adult life. However there are always exceptions to the rule and many children overcome there emotional difficulties and earlier adversities and against all odds become well adjusted and successful adults even although they had such an unhappy start in life.