The Importance of Attachment: The First Relationship

A baby alone does not exist (Winnicott, 1965).

Research over the past 30 years has demonstrated that the infant is born far more competent, more social, more responsive, more able to make sense of his or her environment than we ever imagined. The infant is no longer regarded as passive, responding only to stimuli; research is now verifying what mothers and fathers have always known: from birth, the infant is profoundly social. Research has shown preferences of the newborn infant for a human face-like gestalt, a feminine voice, and maternal odor (Fantz, 1963).

An infant can remember and respond differently to the smell, voice, and face of the mother as early as the first few days of life. At the 1998 White House Conference on Early Childhood and Learning, Dr. Donald Cohen, Director of the Yale Child Studies Center, commented:

Infants see and hear and taste, and they try actively to make sense of these impressions. They recognize patterns and are interested in shapes, and they remember what they have heard and what they have felt. Babies, in short, are smarter, more competent, more curious and eager than ever was suspected.

A study by DeCasper (cited in Associated Press, 1992) demonstrated that infants hear the mother's voice and are aware of varying intonations in speech before birth. In this study, several mothers read to their in utero infants, each reciting a different Dr. Seuss story. At three days old, when they were read several stories, the infants preferred the story that had been read to them before birth. The infant, then, is born with an ear for the rhythms of language and an innate need for interpersonal relatedness (Emde, 1987).

But it is important to note that the infant and young child can only be competent in the context of a relationship. Infants are born expecting a competent caregiver to give them care and attention. D.W. Winnicott (1965) puts this dramatically: "A baby alone does not exist." So important is this first relationship that developmental psychologists regard the formation of a secure attachment with primary caregivers during the first year of infancy as perhaps the most important developmental task of infancy (Cicchetti, Toth, & Hennesey, 1989).

According to attachment theory, children develop expectations of self and others, based on their early experiences with primary caregivers. Children's self images are formed in large part, according to how acceptable they feel in the eyes of their attachment figures. Children with sensitive, responsive caregivers come to perceive themselves as accepted and valued, whereas children with unresponsive caregivers come to perceive themselves as unacceptable and unworthy of attention (Cicchetti et al., 1989). A child who is secure in the expectation that he or she will be supported and protected is more likely to explore the social and physical environment, developing a sense of competence and self-efficacy.

Conversely, children with insecure attachments learn that their needs will not be met; the world is neither predictable nor supportive. Consequently, their trust in others and their confidence in themselves is undermined, often resulting in an impaired ability to explore the physical environment and form friendships with peers (Sroufe, 1989; Urban, Clalson, Egeland, & Sroufe, 1992). Because these are multiple pathways for personality development, there is no linear relationship between an insecure attachment to a primary caregiver and later social and behavior problems (Campbell, 1990). Mitigating factors include an improved relationship with the primary caregiver and a warm affectionate bond with other significant adults.

Attachment appears to be essential to the development of trust and security, and later autonomy. Selma Fraiberg, former professor of child psychoanalysis and Director of the Infant-Parent Program of San Francisco General Hospital, points out that the protective function of parents in early childhood is so vital that even in times of unusual danger, children may not suffer acute anxiety if the parents are present: "It is now well known that in war-time Britain the children who remained with their parents even during bombing attacks were able to tolerate anxiety better than the children who were separated from their parents and evacuated to protective zones." (1959, p. 13).

The capacity to care about another person, to imagine and understand how others think and feel, begins in these first relationships. The experience of forming strong early connections with a caring adult lays the foundation for the capacity to form meaningful relationships with others, including peers and adult love relationships. Intrigued by the connection between a young child's love for its caregivers and later adult love relationships, Fraiberg (1977) wrote in Every Child's Birthright:

During the first six months, the baby learns the essential vocabulary of love. There is the language of the embrace, the language of the eyes, the language of the smile. . . Eighteen year later, when this baby is fully grown and falls in love for the first time, he too will woo his partner through the language of the eyes, the language of the smile, and the joy of the embrace. And naturally, in his exalted state, he will believe that he invented this love song (p. 37).

It appears that a need for unique attachment is part of our biological makeup. Animals, from birds to primates, bond to specific caregivers, for whom substitutes are not readily accepted. The child, like the newborn kitten or chimpanzee, organizes his or her security regulating system around a limited number of caregivers. These are the people who are relied on as a secure haven in times of distress and as a secure base from which to explore (Bowlby, 1988). In addition, this early relationship likely lays the groundwork for the beginnings of moral judgment. The desire to please his or her parents provides a strong motivation for the child to control his or her impulses. Fraiberg (1959) writes:

Our personal identity - the very center of our humanness - is achieved through the early bonds of child and parent. Conscience itself, the most civilizing of all achievements in human evolution, is not part of constitutional endowment, but the endowment of parental love and education (p. 301).

Research on Brain Development.

Brain research has enhanced our understanding of emotional development, and its critical role in cognitive development (see Handout 4 (pdf format)). In The Growth of the Mind, Psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan (1997) states, "emotions, not cognitive stimulation, serve as the brain's primary architect" (p. 1). We now know that the frontal cortex, the area of the brain that dominates emotions and complex thoughts, shows increased activity between the ages of six months and two years. This time period is considered by many researchers to be critical for healthy emotional development.

A responsive, nurturing environment that allows the infant and young child to develop strong attachments to a limited number of caregivers enables the child to build neural pathways that encourage emotional stability. Sroufe and his colleagues found that both that quality of care and security of attachment affect children's later capacity for empathy, emotional regulation, cognitive development, and behavioral control (Kestenbaum, Farber, & Sroufe, 1989).

Gunner's research (1996) on cortisol--a hormone that is easily measured because it is present in saliva - helps to explain how a secure attachment helps children withstand stress, even later in life. In stressful situations, children who have experienced a secure attachment to a caregiver are more adaptive and produce less cortisol. This research also shows that adverse or traumatic events elevate the level of cortisol in the brain. Excessively and chronically high levels of cortisol alter the brain by making it vulnerable to processes that destroy brain cells responsible for thought and memory. Just as importantly, crotisol reduces the number of connections in certain parts of the brain - causing memory lapses, anxiety, and an inability to control emotional outbursts.

Children who have chronically high levels of cortisol experience more delays in all areas of development. In addition, stress causes the child's brain to consume glucose - glucose that could be used for cognitive functions. Trauma and abuse, emotional neglect, and social deprivation all interfere with the development of the frontal cortex and limbic areas of the brain, areas that are involved with integrating emotions with cognitive processes. The result may be impaired emotional, cognitive, and social development; judgment, creativity, problem solving, and planning may be particularly affected (Jensen, 1998; Shore, 1997).

Previous Section | Next Section

---

This document's URL is: © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Email Webmaster Tel. 503.275.9500