Identify Some Key Features Of ‘First Relationships’. Discuss The Importance Of These Features In The Early Psychological Development Of Infants, And Explore Their Implications For Theories Of Child Development.
Identify some key features of ‘First Relationships’. Discuss the importance of these features in the early psychological development of infants, and explore their implications for theories of child development.
Bowlby’s attachment theory encouraged an altered understanding of the importance of first relationships between infant and caregiver. It has been argued that these first relationships are an extension of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, in that they enhance the chances of survival for the infant. Psychologists, such as Mary Ainsworth[1], have showed this to be the case even in children who are abused. This essay will look at the basic features in the formation of a secure attachment relationship and why these relationships are important. It will look at what happens when this basic human need is not satisfied and the implications of an insecure attachment being formed before discussing how the research findings within this subject area impact on the differing schools of thought concerning developmental theory. The terms mother and caregiver are both used to describe the primary caregiver.
The characteristics of first relationships are in general a culturally universal process; mothers in most cultures make special adjustments to their babies. It has been argued by Schieffelin and Ochs[2] that the psychological processes of adapting and communicating produce particular sorts of individuals who are subsequently able to achieve the kinds of interactions appropriate to their culture. For the purpose of this essay the characteristics described will be relevant to Western culture as we know it in the UK and USA. For the majority of these characteristics there is an interaction between mother and child, each contributor determining the outcome of that interaction with the other and reacting to it.
Infants display what Bowlby called ‘signalling behaviours’ such as smiling, laughing and clinging to their caregivers. These signals attract the...
View Full Essay
