Infant attachment
Psychological ethological theory about human relationships / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Infant attachment is a special bond first developed in infancy. It is the first relationship an infant has, usually with its mother or parents.
Research on human babies by developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth in the 1960s and 70s found that children may have different patterns of attachment. This depends mainly on how they experienced their early caregiving environment. Early patterns of attachment, in turn, shape – but do not determine - the individual's expectations in later relationships.[1]
During the first stage of development the mother nurses the baby and the mother and infant(s) stay physically close to each other unless the mother needs to leave to seek food (etc.). While the mother is gone the infant(s) remain hidden and quiet, sometimes in a nest or den.
Infancy is a crucial time of development—of physical growth and of learning, developing social skills to interact with others and learning life skills such as what to eat and how to respond when predators are near.
Infancy is also a time of brain development. In mammals, only some behavior is hard-wired in their brain as a fixed-action pattern. Much behavior is genetically determined only as potential behavioral systems that must be activated and developed. These include:
- the development of perception
- establishing norms for the body
- the programming of early experiences into patterns of behavior
- the ability to identify others within one’s own group as individuals feeling and responding similar to themselves— mirror neurons are involved in this.
With their increasing size of neocortex, primates have progressively more complex social behaviors. Nursing is an integral part of this, and serves four functions:
- it provides food
- it helps the mother and infant stay together—in proximity—for the infant’s protection;
- it allows the infant to observe and interact with its mother and learn through that experience.
- the mother's milk carries antibodies. This gives temporary protection against some infections, until the child's own immune system has matured.
If the infant is part of a litter it plays with its littermates; if it is a single infant, after the first stage of infancy it will begin peer play with other juveniles nearby, close enough for the mother to quickly respond to any difficulty.
Nursing requires proximity; proximity facilitates social interaction, and social interaction is essential for survival. Attachment exists to varying degrees among non-human mammals; it is greatly increased especially in humans. In hunter-gatherer and village-agricultural societies, the mother typically carried the baby or would leave it briefly with an allomother—someone with whom the child will have a life-long relationship such as a grandmother, aunt, or older sibling. Only with the rise of civilization and wealth, and especially within the last 60 years has this pattern of childraising, embedded in our mammalian biology, been significantly altered.
Conclusions: Infant attachment is a multipurpose behavioral system essential to social animals. During infancy patterns of behavior are established on which other long-term relationships are built. Originating in the infant’s protection, the primary purpose of attachment soon became to support brain development. The establishment of homeostasis of physiological systems, social and emotional development and learning are other functions. Infant attachment is found to some degree in all mammals and is greatly expanded in humans. Attachment is a behavioral system that is present at birth but that must be activated and developed.