THE ORIGINS OF ATTACHMENT THEORY: JOHN BOWLBY AND MARY AINSWORTH
作者: INGE BRETHERTON / 35915次阅读 时间: 2011年4月24日
来源: Developmental Psychology (1992), 28, 759-775.
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g.i:vBYv0THE EMERGENCE OF ATTACHMENT THEORY 心理学空间 Wjsy6Zdegt
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In 1948, 2 years before Ainsworth’s arrival, Bowlby had hired James Robertson to help him
P/r2i6px$@e` vy0observe hospitalized and institutionalized children who were separated from their parents.
7d,RK9Z Yf+v#V;k&qV0Robertson had had impeccable training in naturalistic observation, obtained as a conscientious
}pE/I3^*os0objector during World War II, when he was employed as a boilerman in Anna Freud’s Hampstead
/VLQ-v;~IX-kz5i0residential nursery for homeless children. Anna Freud required that all members of the staff, no 心理学空间!D w H"Jh\7f4t+]Y
matter what their training or background, write notes on cards about the children’s behavior
)\a.G%N"Y3r0(Senn, l977a), which were then used as a basis for weekly group discussions. The thorough 心理学空间7K3u3lO i H;i%Q
training in child observation that Robertson thus obtained at the Hampstead residential nursery is 心理学空间 Y5R)t&t5Z,SP
Anna Freud’s lasting personal contribution to the development of attachment theory. 心理学空间^&e)P4y.ZWt
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After 2 years of collecting data on hospitalized children for Bowlby’s research projects, 心理学空间)MG m\r
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_r,Ov St0Robertson protested that he could not continue as an uninvolved research worker, but felt compelled
^[2]'l+t-?,y0to do something for the children he had been observing. On a shoestring budget, with minimal 心理学空间1D.S/ll6baZs
training, a hand-held cinecamera, and no artificial lighting, he made the deeply moving film,
6svE:B;}w0A Two-Year-Old Goes to Hospital (Robertson, 1 953a, 1953b; Robertson & Bowlby, 1952).
{\ _.D&t&K#aaYz0Foreseeing the potential impact of this film, Bowlby insisted that it be carefully planned to ensure 心理学空间%bO1nyw
that no one would later he able to accuse Robertson of biased recording. The target child was
:Ad'P2c%@ s0randomly selected, and the hospital clock on the wall served as proof that time sampling took 心理学空间"i'a2z+F+Shc
place at regular periods of the day. Together with Spitz’s (1947) film, Grief: A Peril in Infancy, 心理学空间Wbq,s M)K sL
Robertson’s first film helped improve the fate of hospitalized children all over the Western
_:q5{4y$m8a0world, even though it was initially highly controversial among the medical establishment. 心理学空间j)T%m ~Y@'I"le

e*t;A.q m2hS MfM;s0When Mary Ainsworth arrived at Bowlby’s research unit late in 1950, others working there 心理学空间km zw5B8Ern
(besides James Robertson) were Mary Boston and Dina Rosenbluth. Rudolph Schaffer, whose
Y8Raza X$@0subsequent attachment research is well known (Schaffer & Emerson, 1964), joined the group
!Z cQ(}L%O},FB0somewhat later, as did Christoph Heinicke (1956; Heinicke & Westheimer, 1966), who undertook
$Q K"Pr7_b-{SSD b0additional separation and reunion studies, and Tony Ambrose (1961), who was interested in 心理学空间3f\1N*Z/C Z:?
early social behavior. Mary Ainsworth, who was charged with analyzing James Robertson’s data, 心理学空间 @*p2]t}i/Ie
was tremendously impressed with his records of children’s behavior and decided that she would
x9M;bK-ej.T0emulate his methods of naturalistic observation were she ever to undertake a study of her own
9O La @*yY2}*Mg0(Ainsworth, 1983). 心理学空间'Dt,fR7]RcF B

D3J O?,[(K0At this time, Bowlby’s earlier writings about the familial experiences of affectionless 心理学空间2u{)Q'Tow
children had led Ronald Hargreaves of the World Health Organization (WHO) to commission him 心理学空间#sY^*EV3Xy(~
to write a report on the mental health of homeless children in postwar Europe. Preparation of the 心理学空间.@(A P`}
WHO report gave Bowlby an opportunity to pick the brains of many practitioners and researchers
6BE*P1U%IBb*l0across Europe and the United States who were concerned with the effects of maternal separation
#w'fQ`#W0and deprivation on young children, including Spitz (1946) and Goldfarb (1943, 1945). The report
N5k{5T E2{!J0was written in 6 months and translated into 14 languages, with sales of 400,000 copies in the
t x(@}7T}9E#S0English paperback edition; it was published in 1951 as Maternal Care and Mental Health by the
RSj.A.@+|4aT0WHO. A second edition, entitled Child Care and the Growth of Love, with review chapters by 心理学空间_&H j-R1A/o(n'R-B
Mary Ainsworth, was published by Penguin Books in 1965.
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:OB0a(kc0It is interesting to examine the 1951 report from today’s perspective. At that time Bowlby
E8?+N:x~Z M0still used the terminology of traditional psychoanalysis (love object, libidinal ties, ego, and
er8X6B9q8oEx0superego), hut his ideas were little short of heretical, Perhaps following Spitz, he used embryol心理学空间)}w.b b)CV$E)r
ogy as a metaphor to portray the maternal role in child development:
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If growth is to proceed smoothly, the tissues must he exposed to the influence of the
r0m&PvH'O]f0appropriate organizer at certain critical periods. In the same way, ~f mental development is
~7E_z.T0to proceed smoothly, it would appear to he necessary for the undifferentiated psyche to be 心理学空间dX@o)W,F}9i8\~
exposed during certain critical periods to the influence of the psychic organizer- the mother. 心理学空间9@)v1A$uog1e&`XkB
(Bowlby, 1951, p. 53)
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r)hIq'| Y0R+E^0Then, seemingly doing away with the idea that the superego has its origin in the resolution of the 心理学空间na?)k2s}~
Oedipus complex, Bowlby claims that during the early years, while the child acquires the capacity 心理学空间+Kt dP}p
for self-regulation, the mother is a child’s ego and superego: 心理学空间z l:X\pX0o S6A
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It is not surprising that during infancy and early childhood these functions are either not
kR9b?;f"C9N0operating at all or are doing so most imperfectly. During this phase of life, the child is 心理学空间mi(G-V B}
therefore dependent on his mother performing them for him. She orients him in space and 心理学空间%m.v;tT8dw%Q5M F{
time, provides his environment, permits the satisfaction of some impulses, restricts others. 心理学空间u@R FjD a
She is his ego and his super-ego. Gradually he learns these arts himself, and as he does, the
Q*{5zEq2t0skilled parent transfers the roles to him. This is a slow, subtle and continuous process, 心理学空间x}Pn,S+q.X
beginning when he first learns to walk and feed himself, and not ending completely until 心理学空间S:mM#t&?S]"sd0V
maturity is reached. . . . Ego and super-ego development are thus inextricably hound up with 心理学空间b!Y8ZIRYB~M
the child’s primary human relationships. (Bowlby, 1951, p. 53) 心理学空间;@_QeLfC7C(a"t C

0tN5s&I$c(C`0This sounds more Vygotskian than Freudian. Moreover, despite his disagreements with Kleinian
lZ8L,o5K+_J7P+V6@_0therapy, I detect remnants of Kleinian ideas in Bowlby’s discussions of children’s violent fantasies 心理学空间-I%o o"EHB3{,_T&Ja
on returning to parents after a prolonged separation and “the intense depression that humans 心理学空间yIS+NT&kQ J&Y
experience as a result of hating the person they most dearly love and need” (Bowlby, 1951, p. 心理学空间F0QkTPk'o
57).
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Bowlby’s major conclusion, grounded in the available empirical evidence, was that to grow
l%N!Ro6^/X]A0up mentally healthy, “the infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate, and
7}eF+UA:^Z0continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute) in which both find 心理学空间0QJ%`i m
satisfaction and enjoyment” (Bowlby, 1951, p. 13). Later summaries often overlook the reference
:Q4];WHL:s#C0to the substitute mother and to the partners’ mutual enjoyment. They also neglect Bowlby’s 心理学空间#` z6}I6R;dF9m)~+~@
emphasis on the role of social networks and on economic as well as health factors in the
N@'U.[W ]['Z1m0development of well-functioning mother-child relationships. His call to society to provide support 心理学空间(lh aI)jW
for parents is still not heeded today: 心理学空间-z;?5W _oESd
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Just as children are absolutely dependent on their parents for sustenance, so in all hut the
ahSE)~;Q1e0most primitive communities, are parents, especially their mothers, dependent on a greater 心理学空间)v)f1Dz?"z \z V-d-x
society for economic provision. If a community values its children it must cherish their
fN8~)x0vO*lK0parents. (Bowlby, 1951, p. 84) 心理学空间|/?&e$?M5R c

:iLd9j3I2S/\X0True to the era in which the WHO report was written, Bowlby emphasized the female parent. In
4LkV:T Q"L"b;o0aeA0infancy, he comments, fathers have their uses, but normally play second fiddle to mother. Their
7?SQ6m#m|jg:OO0prime role is to provide emotional support to their wives’ mothering. 心理学空间N^/[ \1j!l t
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The proposition that, to thrive emotionally, children need a close and continuous caregiving relationship
1u|"a0eg#^0called for a theoretical explanation. Bowlby was not satisfied with the then current psychoanalytic
W p2jM)D p0view that love of mother derives from sensuous oral gratification, nor did he agree 心理学空间~\M,Q![!x3VVM7v8h@
with social learning theory’s claim that dependency is based on secondary reinforcement (a concept 心理学空间 exDR_ w&R
that was itself derived from psychoanalytic ideas). Like Spitz (1946) and Erikson (1950), 心理学空间1q U&{nppQ ^
Bowlby had latched onto the concept of critical periods in embryological development and was 心理学空间8VX!J6h_:X8q}
casting about for similar phenomena at the behavioral level when, through a friend, he happened 心理学空间;N Nr r d {
upon an English translation of Konrad Lorenz’s (1935) paper on imprinting. 心理学空间2u(i?\q*Ay
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From then on, Bowlby began to mine ethology for useful new concepts. Lorenz’s (1935) 心理学空间)G ]|;vf i4Q
account of imprinting in geese and other precocial birds especially intrigued him, because it
mal]m*\0suggested that social bond formation need not be tied to feeding. In addition, he favored 心理学空间-a*Or7}4[%H0fuO |D
ethological methods of observing animals in their natural environment, because this approach was 心理学空间R| BtqAe\} U
so compatible with the methods Robertson had already developed at the Tavistock research unit. 心理学空间,Rj;^I?(\ s
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One notable talent that stood Bowlby in great stead throughout his professional life was his
3Xk2u1E oI(o9k8~0ability to draw to himself outstanding individuals who were willing and able to help him acquire 心理学空间*J3A cdqG2?~&@/A
expertise in new fields of inquiry that he needed to master in the service of theory building To 心理学空间E?m;~*r
learn more about ethology, Bowlby contacted Robert Hinde, under whose “generous and stern
3]-t+a V8K:v&r0guidance” (see Bowlby, 1980b, p. 650) he mastered ethological principles to help him find new 心理学空间U,]6_b&`)X%yW4L
ways of thinking about infant mother attachment. Conversely, Hinde’s fascinating studies of 心理学空间D9in X&~9F9?6{
individual differences in separation and reunion behaviors of group-living rhesus mother infant 心理学空间\:dt"F|,C
dyads (Hinde & Spencer-Booth, 1967) were inspired by the contact with Bowlby and his
:]6j"Q5~5bEL0co-workers (Hinde, 1991).
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Bowlby’s first ethological paper appeared in 1953. Somewhat surprisingly, however,
#?+D;c^^3a?b5a0various empirical papers on the effects of separation, published with his own research team during
^#p:NOv$rI+~!w,Y0the very same period, show little trace of Bowlby’s new thinking, because his colleagues were
[6cz ^ p w1BC s`0unconvinced that ethology was relevant to the mother-child relationship (Bowlby, personal
M1?*d_Z0communication, October 1986). Even Mary Ainsworth, though much enamored of ethology, was 心理学空间D hS$k} X!q/xk
somewhat wary of the direction Bowlby’s theorizing had begun to take. It was obvious to her,
X"kF+B*K!}5sX0she said, that a baby loves his mother because she satisfies his needs (Ainsworth, personal
^3fNC6f RL~0communication, January 1992), A collaborative paper dating from this period (Bowlby,
#\V(b#v)Qy7Q0W*w0Ainsworth, Boston, & Rosenbluth, 1956) is nevertheless important, because it prefigures later
2p*i1bG+AG+w0work on patterns of attachment by Ainsworth. Her contribution to the paper was a system for
USs5s!HC]jUxh0classifying three basic relationship patterns in school-age children who had been reunited with
M8k/xH(a0parents after prolonged sanatorium stays: those with strong positive feelings toward their
Mv;K)[V.J.P0mothers; those with markedly ambivalent relationships; and a third group with nonexpressive,
C [6d7G4de0indifferent, or hostile relationships with mother. 心理学空间#uY8qv^/` z^-c

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