Bowlby rejected view that babies as passive - noted how babies actively seeked interactions with others
from very first months babies look, reach, smile and make noises to draw people into communication
Up until 6 months babies actevely seek to establish relationships with people around them but after 6 months they are replaced by significant
relationships.
Phase 1. Birth to 2-3 months - pays attention to people
Phase 2 3-6 months - more responsive to mother figure
Phase 3 - 6 months to 2 yrs - follows mother, withdraws from
strangers, less friendly to others Phase 4 - 2 plus - develops
insight into mothers feelings, motives and plans
Secure and insecure attachments -
research by Mary Ainsworth key
collaborator with Bowlby
Secure realtionships - highly enjoyable mutally satisfying
relationships - more sensitive to babies signals
Insecure relationships -
muted and insecure
Attachment - Not just Mothers a scure attachment can
be realised with the primary care giver.
different attachment figures are used by children in different ways - normally one or two dominate.
an attachment figure is a secure base
Secure base from which to explore the world - Humans need to adapt to ever change world and situations , we
need to interpret responces and what will happen next - Models in our minds - our first Model constructed in the
mind is of his or her mother - enables the child to understand thier own self and the world around them and their
place within it.
Humans have an natural instint to explore the world around them, having a secure base in a good attachment enables the child to do this
successfully with confidence to develop rather than feeling vulnerable.