PSYCH 9B Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Ethology, John Bowlby
Document Summary
Ensure that infants maintain proximity to their parents which helps to ensure their survival. A strong and enduring emotional bond formed between two people. The earliest attachment is between an infant and its caregivers. How early attachments form and what their implications are for childhood. Separation anxiety appears from 6-8 months of age. Separation anxiety reaches it"s peak at about 18 months of age and then it starts to decline. Study of animals in their own natural environment. Animals that can move around within hours or days of their birth are at high risk of being eaten by predators. To prevent this, they stay close to their parents. Seeking to stay very close to the mother and protesting when separated. The infant has to be near the mother within the first few hours of life and if they aren"t, that affects the likelihood that the mother will bond to the infant (false in humans)
