Describe the two main types of infant attachment and the type of adolescent who is likely to emerge from each attachment pattern.
What will be an ideal response?
Attachment theorists argue that the secure attachment in infancy is essential to the development of social competence. In secure attachment, the infant uses the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment. Secure attachment is theorized to be an important foundation for psychological development later in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In insecure attachment, infants either avoid the caregiver or show considerable resistance or ambivalence toward the caregiver. Insecure attachment is theorized to be related to difficulties in relationships and problems in later development.
Secure attachment to parents has been linked to adolescents' social competence, well-being, self-esteem, emotional adjustment, and physical health. Other outcomes of secure attachment are good peer relations, successful autonomy, and fewer externalized issues such as delinquency and drug abuse.
There are three categories of insecure adolescent attachment: dismissing/avoidant attachment, preoccupied/ambivalent attachment, and unresolved/disorganized attachment. In dismissing/avoidant attachment, individuals deemphasize the importance of attachment. Caregivers consistently reject the attachment needs of those in their care. The result is often that parents and adolescents mutually distance themselves from each other. Sometimes this leads to violent and aggressive behavior on the part of the adolescent.
In preoccupied/ambivalent attachment, adolescents are hyperattuned to attachment experiences. Parents may be inconsistently available to the adolescent. The result may be a high degree of attachment-seeking behavior, mixed with angry feelings on the part of the adolescent.
In unresolved/disorganized attachment, the adolescent has an unusually high level of fear and may be disoriented. This may occur with traumatic experiences, such as abuse or a parent's death.
You might also like to view...
The environmental hypothesis on intelligence states that groups differ in environment IQ because
a. some groups are genetically superior to others. b. nutrition and general health differ across groups. c. their environments differ in supporting intellectual development. d. groups are religiously predestined for failure/success.
Beck's client was recently left at the altar when his fiancé didn't show up for the wedding. The client now feels he will never get married because this must mean no one will ever want him. The client is demonstrating
a. selective perception. c. overgeneralization. b. magnification. d. absolutist thinking.
Which question best captures the spirit of most individuals who study human development with regard to the nurture/nature question?
a. How do genes and environmental factors interact in the development of memory processes? b. Which human behaviors are determined genetically, and which are determined by environmental factors? c. At what age do environmental factors surpass genetic factors as most important in human development? d. Which genes are responsible for childhood behavior, and which genes are responsible for adult behavior?
In which of the following conditions is informational social influence more likely to occur?
A. When individuals want to fit in B. When the group has expertise C. When the answer is publicized D. When individuals want to be accepted