Who was John Bowlby?
John Bowlby (1907-1990) grew up in an upper middle-class London family. He was one of six children, looked after by nannies, with his mother a somewhat distant figure and his father, a prestigious doctor, posted abroad for much of Bowlby's childhood.
Witnessing both World Wars, Bowlby had many opportunities to observe the devastating effects of loss and separation. In the 1930s he trained as a psychoanalyst and took time out to teach at a residential school for 'maladjusted children'. Aged 21 and with no qualifications, Bowlby had responsibility for ten troubled children. He later said, 'When I was there, I learned everything that I have known. It was the most valuable six months of my life.'
The school's ethos was founded upon an understanding that children learn through experience and that each individual child's point of view holds the key to their mental growth. The staff were opposed to harsh discipline and convinced that if children could make meaningful relationships, their chance of future social and emotional well-being would grow vastly.
This conviction about the vital role of positive relationships was to underpin the account of personality development that has become known as 'attachment theory'. It also largely explains why Bowlby was dissatisfied with available behaviourist and psychoanalytic accounts of development.
What did Bowlby contribute?
By the time he produced Child care and the growth of love, the abridged version of his 1951 World Health Organisation monograph on homeless children - which contained the assertion that mother's love is as important for children's psychological health as vitamins are for physical health - Bowlby had already written several papers describing the effects of disrupted mother-child relationships. He had spotted potential links between children's experiences of feeling abandoned, rejected, unloved and unlovable, and the development of delinquency, what he termed 'affectionless psychopathy'.
This view, and the attachment theory that grew from it, has had a tremendous influence on care practices. For example, it has impacted on:
- the provision of alternative care for children and the development of keyworker schemes (in daycare, children's homes and foster care)
- advice and care given to expectant and new parents
- decisions made in court and probation services about youth offending and parental responsibility
- social work and hospital practices, educational practices and many therapeutic settings - including pet therapy.
Bowlby's influence is discernable even among people who have never heard of him, such as beliefs about whether young children are best brought up by their own parents and opinions about at which age children are ready to start school.
What is attachment theory?
Bowlby's attachment theory states that closed relationships between humans are biologically necessary and governed by primitive mechanisms shared by other mammals. For healthy psychological development, Bowlby claimed, a special relationship is needed between babies and carers. Through being cared for, babies learn how to care for themselves and others.
By 12 months, children have begun to build crude 'internal working models'
of themselves in interaction with the people important to them. These models shape ideas about what to expect from other people, how to treat them and how to understand them.
Children with experiences of carers who are sensitive, responsive and predictably available are likely to have models that anticipate enjoyment of social interaction. They tend to feel secure and valued, and can therefore value others and co-operate.
Children with experiences of neglect or of inconsistent or rejecting attachment figures have different outlooks. Some 'avoidant' children may appear not to want close relationships, some 'ambivalent' or 'resistant'
children may seem more conflicted, anxious and clingy.
Bowlby proposed that, with optimal care, every child could learn to feel valued. He thought this would decrease the likelihood of stress-related mental illnesses as well as social problems such as delinquency, criminality or addiction. But Bowlby recognised that many parents, especially those with histories of poor care, would need help to give their children this security.
Key messages Attachment theory stresses the importance of key people (attachment figures) throughout life who can:
- provide a secure base to explore from
- provide a safe haven when danger threatens
- help to organise the child's emotional responses and give meaning to social experiences.
It also suggests that secure attachments are important because they:
- ensure a more positive outlook in which both self and others are valued
- facilitate a style of interaction that affords more opportunities for learning and loving
- enable greater understanding of emotional states in self and others.
It states that:
- children need to sense that at least one person will 'be there for them'
- when necessary
- without this, they are likely to be vulnerable to emotional problems
- recovering from the loss of attachment figures takes time.
Bowlby's theory today Attachment theory has always been controversial. Nowadays there are several different interpretations of it.
Determinists maintain that the early years are critical for all later development. They argue that if babies do not have sensitive, well-attuned maternal care until they are at least two, they will develop such poor attachments that their later development will be at risk.
Constructivists tend to view development as more flexible. Although it might be advantageous to have consistently good care, later experiences of good relationships can remedy earlier poor experiences.
Both approaches, though, share Bowlby's conviction that, throughout life, the experience of positive relationships is of immense importance.
Helen Barrett is senior research fellow at the National Family and Parenting Institute and chair of the International Attachment Network
Suggested reading
- Bowlby, J (1969/1982) Attachment and Loss, vol. 1: Attachment. London: Hogarth Press/Institute of Psychoanalysis
- Bowlby, J (1973) Attachment and loss, vol. 2: Separation: anxiety and anger. London: Hogarth Press
- Bowlby, J (1980) Attachment and loss, vol. 3: Loss: sadness and depression. London: Hogarth Press
- Bowlby, J (1988) A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. London: Routledge
- Cassidy, J and Shaver, PR (1999) Handbook of attachment. Theory, research, and clinical applications. New York: Guilford Press
- Goldberg, S (2000) Attachment and development. London: Arnold
- Rolfe, S (2004) Rethinking attachment for early childhood practice: Promoting security, autonomy and resilience in young children. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin.
- The International Attachment Network website: http://ian-attachment.org.uk/
