“Human
development is often referred to as a journey that takes people along many
different paths.” I personally agree that with Pigaget and other information
processing psychologists, that children do make the “journey” alone. Factors such
as family and environment influence their direction but it is ultimately a solo
journey. I liked this concept.
My favorite part of this week’s
reading was the information about attachment. It is very interesting
relationships and bonding that form in the earliest times of our lives, times
that we cannot recall, (infancy), are so crucial in how we see the world as
children and adults. Infant-parent attachment sets the foundation for our
future social relationships, this makes total sense, yet I can’t help but
wonder how accurate it is? Is this true for every person?
For example for someone who was adopted. Maybe
this child had absent parents; they have no trust that their basic needs will
be met. There was no bonding or attachment to any caregiver during this crucial
period. The child is then adopted into a loving home and shown trust, security
and attachment to the new family. Will that child still suffer from the
consequences from not having a secure attachment to a caregiver as an infant?
Will they suffer and have less successful social interactions as they mature
into adulthood? Or is that more dependent on the individual child’s personality
type?
Or how about the opposite, A child that
had secure attachment with their parent during infancy but has trouble socializing
as they get older. What would be the cause of that?
*
This week’s reading on this topic brought up some questions, hypothetical
questions and scenarios are difficult to write so my apologies if anything is
unclear. If it’s any consolation it all made sense in my head lol ;). I am interested
to hear your guys thoughts. *
Hi Kathlynn,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. In the article "Babies Bonds and Brains", Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan corroborates this idea by saying " it's not just what happens to you that counts -it's what you think happens to you". So, ultimately it's up to us how we perceive experiences and give meaning to them.
In my opinion, it's a basic need and even instinct to be safe. More than food and reproduction, every animal look for shelter for safety; it's the first survival need. Then, food/water sources, and later reproduction. I think it's the same for humans, we all need to feel safe, so children look for attachment with adults, peers, etc. If they don't have it, later in life they will need to get attached to someone or something (it could also be a non human figure like God that would provide the sense of trust and safety needed) to develop trust and face challenges or try new experiences. I also think that if attachment can be beneficial to promote trust and confidence, too much attachment might cause the opposite (insecurity that the world is not a safe place unless X person is always around). I'm not sure if my ideas make sense too, but in my mind they always sound quite reasonable.
I have thought about this attachment theory as well. My older brother didn't meet his daughter until she was 3 years old. She is now attached at his hip and has no problem socializing. On the other hand, my younger brother was very attached to his son for the first 4 years of his son, but separated from him since. It's been 3 years and my nephew has more and more introverted mannerisms. I was wondering why the mother is the primary parent to attach to the infant. My younger brother was definitely close to his son. Even to my own son, I think my husband has a closer attachment. If I had a girl maybe I would be the more attached of us. I definitely don't see why an infant can't attach to many people. I believe it really does take a village to raise a child.
ReplyDeleteI love that at the end you put that it may not make sense on paper but it did in your head because I was feeling the same way this week I found most of what we read through very fascinating but hard to get on paper. I also was wondering the same thing about adoption and successful relationships as the infant grew into adulthood. Does it all depend on that bonding as a baby or is there something else involved?
ReplyDelete