As originally proposed and elaborated by Main (Main & Hesse, 1990; Main & Morgan, 1996), disorganized attachment among home-reared infants is commonly understood to be a product of the infant's experience of "fright without solution." The following discussion will link this monograph to Bowlbys published works to identify how they are connected. The Strange Situation Procedure, developed by Mary Ainsworth and colleagues (Citation1978), is the gold standard assessment for attachment in infancy. Child Development, 41, 49-67. In pursuing this question of how to conceptualize disorganization in relation to defense, Bowlby (c. Citation1962, PP/BOW/D.3/78) reflected in depth on Freuds (Citation1915/2001) concept of repression. However, one lesson from examining the origins of the concept of disorganization is the importance of considered and careful use of terminology about behavior, psychological process, and classification that matches intended meaning, rather than assuming that the term disorganized is self-evident in its meaning (Duschinsky & Solomon, Citation2017). Harlow, H. F. & Zimmermann, R. R. (1958). The infant often demonstrated signs of resisting interactions with the mother, especially during the strange situation reunion episode. Schore, Citation2001; Schore & Schore, Citation2008; Siegel, Citation2017). For example, the highest-level model comprises beliefs and expectations across all types of relationships, and lower-level models hold general rules about specific relations, such as romantic or parental, underpinned by models specific to events within a relationship with a single person. He was particularly concerned that an undifferentiated use of the term defense among psychoanalysts provided no basis for distinguishing degrees of control: The relation of defense to healthy control, or to coping processes, has never been clarified. The unpublished manuscripts available in the Bowlby Archive suggest that this predicament will occur when a childs experience has led them to adopt avoidance as a conditional strategy but the degree of conflict between distress and avoidance undermines the effector equipment that would usually coordinate behavior and affect in a coordinated manner. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors. Such individuals crave intimacy but remain anxious about whether other romantic partners will meet their emotional needs. For Bowlby, the potential for communication between different domains of life and mutual enrichment support mental health (Bowlby, c. Citation1962, PP/BOW/D.3/78). (Bowlby, c. Citation1962, PP/BOW/D.3/78), The idea of intrusion of excluded and segregated material in inappropriate contexts reappeared much later in Bowlbys published writings (e.g. In their original formulation, Main and Solomon ( 1990) defined disorganisation in terms of the approach-avoidance conflict endured by the abused child who has to seek comfort and protection from an attachment figure who is either frightening (abusive) or are themselves frightened (for example, through mental illness or domestic violence). Having emphasized the value of the concept of disorganization, he then promised, this is a concept to which we shall be returning in a paper to follow (Bowlby, Citation1960, p. 110). Main, Kaplan, and Cassidy (1985) analyzed adults responses to the Adult Attachment Interview and observed three major patterns in the way adults recounted and interpreted childhood attachment experiences and relationships in general. This spectrum of defensive responses demonstrates the degree to which mental integration can vary and the ways in which defensive disruptions to integration can manifest psychologically and behaviorally. ), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. Hinde, Citation1970). As the above has made clear, attachment research is ongoing, continually improving and refining our understanding. Similarly anxiety will continue to be aroused by inappropriate situations and hostile behaviour be expected from inappropriate sources. Bowlby believed that the behaviors identified by Main and Solomon were likely of great clinical concern (Citation1988, p. 124). When thinking about disorganization as a Strange Situation classification, Bowlbys conclusion may initially seem counterintuitive. Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. Balancing theoretical, research-oriented, and clinical papers, Attachment in the Preschool Years provides valuable data and approaches for those working in a wide range of fields, including developmental psychology and psychopathology, child psychiatry, family therapy, pediatrics, nursing, and early childhood education. A small number of such reflections can be found in his published works (e.g. Discussions of the evacuated children were included in the second book of his seminal trilogy, Separation (Citation1973), many years after his observations and attachment theory had already been outlined. Insecure attachment Results when the emotional needs of the child are met inconsistently or not at all, and results in relationship-threatening behaviours in childhood and adult life. This may be because the parent has ignored attempts to be intimate, and the child may internalize the belief that they cannot depend on this or any other relationship. An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Lawrence Erlbaum. Likely, general mental models indicate a typical appraisal of the self and others across relationships, and relationship-specific beliefs about the self and ones partner would plausibly represent only a part of these generalized beliefs. For instance, selective exclusion could be helpfully used to keep worries away during relaxation or sleep. Vol.6 No.13, The infant may or may not be friendly with the stranger, but always showed more interest in interacting with the mother. A childs experience of this kind of motivational conflict was predicted by Main and Hesse to result in disruption of the attachment system in the Strange Situation and lead to the conflicted, disoriented, or apprehensive responses that Main and Solomon used to form the disorganized attachment classification. Attachment behavior in adults toward the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the childs needs. Main and solomon Disorganised attachment Later research by Mary Main and Judith Solomon (1986) identified a third insecure attachment pattern, disorganised. People tend to base their parenting style on the internal working model, so the attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family. Her academic interests mainly lie in the fields of developmental psychology, social-emotional learning, and informal education. As such, defenses have the potential to be both the cause and result of integrative failure, via different processes. mother) and child. In his unpublished notes, he writes evocatively and from clear personal experience, of the pain of rejection and ill-fit experienced by one holding an idiosyncratic model of the world (undated file cabinet notes from the 1950s, PP/BOW/H.10). London: Routledge. This effectively meant that the wider context of Bowlbys theorizing about disorganization has been missing from the literature, as Solomon, Duschinsky, Bakkum, and Schuengel (Citation2017) have recently noted. The secure pattern was characterized by the infant displaying distress on separation from the caregiver, pleasure on reunion, and a capacity to make use of the caregivers comfort to readily return to play. The sample consisted of 227 participants, 153 of which were university students and the remaining 69 were members of the general population. In terms of a current romantic relationship, those with a secure attachment style were much more likely to be in a relationship whereas those with an avoidant-fearful style were not. Add your e-mail address to receive free newsletters from SCIRP. The Guilford Press. (1994). Attachment theory explains how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development. Bowlby (c. Citation1962, PP/BOW/D.3/78) applied his account to the nature of defense, arguing that the process of selective exclusion can also be exploited by the organism, forming various kinds of defense. (1969). A second situation is where signals about safety are ambiguous, even without cues for threat. There also appears to be a continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later adult romantic relationships. Dismissive individuals have learned to suppress their emotions at the behavioral level, although they still experience emotional arousal internally (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2005). The nature of the childs tie to his mother. Proceedings This spectrum of degrees and forms of segregation provided a subtler way of conceptualizing defense mechanisms. In Bowlbys conception, developmental anomalies can be expected in the coordination of attention, expectation, affect, and behavior because integration is undermined when there is no one available around whom the attachment system can be organized. Building on the earlier work of S. Freud, Kleins Object-Relations theory puts an emphasis on the mother-child relationship, and dropped S. Freuds Oedipus/Elektra complexes thus de-emphasising the Eros instinct. In contrast to Main and despite his promise from the 1960s, Bowlby did not train his focus on the concept of disorganization nor did he attempt to operationalize it. Ainsworth and colleagues found ambivalent infants to be anxious and unconfident about their mothers responsiveness, and their mothers were observed to lack the fine sense of timing in responding to the infants needs. (1969). It is completed by the therapist based on their obsevations and reflections on the contents of the therapy sessions. when reunited with the mother. We are committed to engaging with you and taking action based on your suggestions, complaints, and other feedback. In this way, defensive exclusion can ultimately undermine integration and shift the mind into a segregated state. Not only are information and motor response relevant to any one goal narrowly restricted but information and motor responses relevant to some other and perhaps incompatible goal may be allowed through. Main and Solomon (Citation1986, Citation1990), researchers based at the University of California, Berkeley, were the first to propose the formal disorganized attachment classification for the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, Citation1978). (1984) and is used as a measure of the quality of object-relations in adults, but not children. 121-160). correspondence with the Dutch Psychoanalytic Society, Citation1963, PP/BOW/B.5/20). Instead of being sensitive, efficient and reversible, it becomes stuck in a condition that is at once restrictive, erratic and rigid. As such, they strive for self-acceptance by attempting to gain approval and validation from their relationships with significant others. Solomon and George (Citation2011) have highlighted this point as particularly significant because it suggests that care or custody proceedings involving sustained separation from a parent can themselves result in the disorganized behaviors in the Main and Solomon indices (Citation1990). Referring to other writers works, he states, Cobb (1952) has suggested that 'it is integration itself, the relationship of one part to another, that is mind and which causes the phenomenon of consciousness; and Fessard (Citation1954) has accordingly proposed that consciousness be termed an Experienced Integration (Bowlby, c. Citation1962, PP/BOW/D.3/78). Bowlby ( 1958, 1960, 1969) was a pioneer in the study of attachment. Children with avoidant attachment styles tend to avoid interaction with the caregiver, and show no distress during separation. Much of this information has not been previously published, let alone tested, and interpretations and applications of these ideas should be considered in that light. Based on this the 36-item self-report Experiences in Close Relationships Scale was developed (ECR; Brennan et al., 1998), which was then revised in 2001 (ECR-R; Fraley et al. Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). Finally children exhibiting an insecure avoidant attachment style tend to seem oblivious to the presence of their attachment figure, not seeking them out when distressed, showing little or no separation anxiety, and showing a lack of response upon the AFs return. Solomon and George (Citation2016) and Lyons-Ruth and Jacobvitz (Citation2016) have likewise argued that attention to the different processes and behaviors implicated by disorganized attachment would be valuable for research and clinical work with infants (see also Beeney et al., Citation2016; Hollidge & Hollidge, Citation2016; Padrn, Carlson, & Sroufe, Citation2014; Solomon et al., Citation2017; Waters & Crowell, Citation1999). This article has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. If the relationship gets too deep or they are asked to share personal stories, the fearful-avoidant may shut down rapidly. We are committed to engaging with you and taking action based on your suggestions, complaints, and other feedback. Van Der Horst, Citation2011). Mary Main graduates with a PhD in Psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. The fearful-avoidant style is seen in individuals who want emotional intimacy but are unable to trust their partners, and this can often result in relationship-threatening behaviours. Bowlby accumulates extensive unpublished file-draw notes integrating psychoanalytic theories of conflict with ethological observations of conflict in animals. Mary Main and Judith Solomon expanded Ainsworth's model by adding the D (disorganized) classification for children with behaviors that represented disruption to the Ainsworth patterns. Social Referencing degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base). Psychological assessment, 23(3), pp.615-25. There is evidence that attachment styles may be transmitted between generations. Baldwin, M.W., & Fehr, B. This point is also mentioned in passing by Main and Solomon (Citation1990) and was later elaborated by Lyons-Ruth (Citation2007). In a 1957 manuscript and in later undated notes focused on conflict, Bowlby (PP/BOW/H.10) theorized that a behavioral system that was already organized would be prone to be undermined especially in three circumstances, though there is no indication that Bowlby saw these as mutually exclusive or as exhaustive. It can range from the simple reallocation of attention away from distress to more substantial forms that result in limited segregation by diverting attention to something else. Yet Main and Solomon (1990) reported descriptions of infants who displayed behaviour suggestive of conflict or confusion which significantly disrupted an Ainsworth pattern of response (e.g., a child approaches the caregiver on reunion, but with her head sharply averted).
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