INFANCY

Infancy

Infancy

“A young child's experience of an encouraging, supportive and co-operative mother, gives him a sense of worth, a belief in the helpfulness of others, and a favourable model on which to build future relationships. Furthermore, by enabling him to explore his environment with confidence and to deal with it effectively, such experience also promotes his sense of competence”. This essay will discuss the degree to which quality of attachment can predict subsequent social and cognitive development in the following way: It first considers the meaning of “quality of attachment”. In this respect it tries to define high and low quality of attachment. Then it raises the question of the degree to which a prediction can take place and looks at the other factors influencing social and cognitive development. It goes on to discuss the significance of the term subsequent. Subsequently it examines the different ways in which quality of attachment does influence social and cognitive development. Finally it summarizes the results from the different sections to provide a coherent answer.

What does quality of attachment mean? Durkin (1995) describes attachment as an emotional bond in which a person's sense of security is bound up in the relationship. Quality of attachment is sometimes paired with intensity of attachment as it is to a certain extent in Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment. This can be misleading, as a strong attachment is not necessarily of high quality. A 35 year old man for instance, who still lives with his mother and asks her for permission every time he goes on a date may be very strongly attached, but it is surely not a healthy attachment. As cross-cultural studies have demonstrated, the definition of the intensity to which a child should be attached differs amongst and within cultures.

The different values, backgrounds, anticipations, perceptions and assumptions of ...