Theories of attachment

There are 4 kinds’ theories of attachment. First is the psychodynamic approach and it suggests that attachment to the mother which is the first love object occurs because of the mother`s giving pleasure to the infant through the feeding. This approach has been criticized in babies can attach to others who do not meet their need for food and the research on rhesus monkeys has shown that attachment to a cuddly mother was more important than food. The same criticism can be made of next theory which is learning theory. It also suggest that the attachment occurs through feeding in that the infant associates food which is a primary reinforce with the mother as secondary reinforce. Third theory is that social learning theory which suggests that attachment and other relationships are learned through observation and imitation. Last theory is Bowlby`s theory of attachment. Bowlby suggested that infants are most attached to a primary caregiver who is at the top of hierarchy and it is important for healthy social development.

Attachment

According to Shaffer in 1993, an attachment was referred “a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity [closeness]”. It is an emotional experienced throughout the people’s lifespan. The definition of Attachment is a strong, reciprocal, emotional bond between as infant and his or her caregiver(s) that it is characterized by a desire to maintain proximity. Attachments take different forms, such as secure or insecure. Infants display attachment through the degree of separation which is distressed by showing separated from the caregiver, pleasure at reunion with the caregiver, and stranger anxiety. When people say I am attached to someone, it means that it makes people feel good to be in that person`s company and also makes people feel anxious when they are not here.

Family systems theory

In 1978 Minuchin, Rosman, and Baker developed the thought as the family make a key role in the development of anorexia nervosa also it could be to bulimia. Anorexia Nervosa is a mental illness that makes people stop eating and anorexic has a fear about becoming fat and distorted body image. Even if they are underweight they see their selves as “normal”. Bulimia Nervosa is an illness which a person cannot stop themselves from eating too much, and then vomits in order to control their weight. The family which has an anorexic is called enmeshment. It means that no one has own clear identity because everything was done together. This was also represented by Blos in 1967.

The content of Stanford prison experiment (Part 2)

In 1973 Philip Zimbardo studied the issues as known as “Stanford prison experiment”. The literal events in the prison were so unpleasant and dangerous which made the entire experiment had to stop after 6 days which was supposed to be 14 days experiment. In one day, one prisoner had to be released caused by disorganized thinking, uncontrollable crying and screaming such as severe symptoms of emotional disturbance. In two days the violence and rebellion started. On the forth day two more prisoners showed symptoms of severe disturbance so they have been released. The behavior of prisoner became subdued and submissive. At the same time the aggression and the harassment by guards had increased steadily day by day.

Gender

Women live longer than man in most of the countries. It is caused by that women could handle their stress better than man. This might happen because of three possibilities. First possibility is that gender differences in physiological responses to stressors. Second possibility is gender differences in life style as reflecting different ways of handing stressful situation. Third possibility is gender difference in the behavior which produced in stressful situation. Stone et al1 in 1990 found that women’s blood pressure increases more than man in situation of performing as stressful tasks. Frankenhaeuser et al in 1976 similarly found that boy made faster increase in stress hormones than girl as taking examination. These findings show that the sympathetic adrenal medullary system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical are sensitively in males than in females.

The origin of Stanford prison experiment(Part1)

There were many problems in American prison in the 1960s. Many of these problems were concerned about the brutal attacks by prison guards to prisoners in their care.The reasons of the brutal attacks are mentioned as two possibilities. First possibility is that the people who choose to be the prison guards tend to have aggressive or sadistic personalities. Second possibility is that the behavior of prison guards caused by the social environment of prison that includes the strict power which is fond in their situation. These two possibilities were considered as dispositional and situational explanations.