Theories Comparing Ainsworth\'s Attachment Theory

Theories

Comparing Ainsworth's Attachment Theory to Hirschi's Social Control Theory is similar to comparing apples to doughnuts. Both theories are food for thought, both will nourish those who ingest them, and like apples and doughnuts, both theories are chosen by people according to personal preference.

The Attachment Theory as first presented by Marilyn Ainsworth "is meant to describe and explain people's enduring patterns of relationships from birth to death."(Attachment). This paper will compare Ainsworth's theory to Hirschi's Social Control Theory that "focuses on the sociological

Comparing Ainsworth's Attachment Theory to Hirschi's Social Control Theory is similar to comparing apples to doughnuts. forces that can prevent people from participating in deviant behavior." (Alston 1995-page 2).

The Attachment Theory is one way of presenting the idea that all humans need some type of attachment in their lives in order to feel secure, and to function in society as a 'normal' human being. The theory espouses that from the time an infant is born until that same person grows old and dies, they form relationships with other humans (become attached) and must have these relationships in their lives to orderly progress throughout life. This hypothesis has been tested, and will continue to be tested, in as many various ways as could be thought of, and has spun off a variety of complementary, and sometimes competing theories as well. The theory has generated much heated debate and a wide range of studies over the years and it has led to papers such as this one by the score.

One of those studies professed that; "the fundamental assumption in attachment research...is that sensitive responding by the parent to the infant's needs results in an infant who demonstrates secure attachment, while lack of such sensitive responding results in insecure attachment" (Lamb 1984). The study went on to state that such attachment is at the core of every individual's well being. The Attachment Theory states that as we begin life there are three categories into which we can be placed. Those three categories are first; the secure infant, second; the avoidant infant, and third; the resistant or ambivalent infant.

Secure infants either seek proximity or contact or else greet the parent at a distance with a smile or wave.

Avoidant infants avoid the parent.

Resistant / ambivalent infants either passively or actively show hostility toward the parent.

These three categories are not, however, created by us as infants. Instead, they are created by our parents and the people we come in contact with. Attachment theories do not solely pertain to infants, but are also applied to adults as well. The Attachment Theory supposedly provides a framework for understanding our reactions as adults and the emotions that we feel including (but not limited to) love, loneliness and grief. According to the theory these reactions are based on working models developed from the time we were infants and throughout childhood.

Ainsworth's three-fold taxonomy of attachment styles has been translated into terms of adult romantic relationships as follows:

Secure adults find it relatively easy to get close to others and are comfortable depending on others and having others depend on them. Secure adults don't often worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to them.

Avoidant adults are somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; they find it difficult to trust others completely, difficult to allow themselves to depend on others. Avoidant adults are nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, love partners want them to be more intimate than they feel comfortable being.

Anxious / ambivalent adults find that others are reluctant to get as close as they would like. Anxious / ambivalent adults often worry that their partner doesn't really love them or won't want to stay with them. Anxious / ambivalent adults want to merge completely with another person, and this desire sometimes scares people away." (Hazen 1987-page 512).

In 1990 another researcher also developed models that portrayed the attachment theories. These models were based on studies conducted to discover how we coped as adults and were based on whether we were secure or avoidant personalities (see figure 1)

These attachment theories and models are primarily based on how we as individuals are treated, and how we attach ourselves to others as infants and throughout our respective childhoods.

In 1969 Travis Hirschi presented four social bonds which promote socialization and conformity. These include attachment, commitment, involvement and belief." (Hirschi's Social Theory). Hirschi said that the attachment process was only part of the development we as humans go through. He claimed that each of the four bonds were of equal importance. He also claimed that it was social controls, not moral values that maintain law and order. "Without controls, he argues, one is free to commit criminal acts." (Hirschi's).