Final answer:
John Bowlby's attachment theory emphasizes the importance of bonding with a primary caregiver, with social releasers playing a key role in forming attachments.
Secure attachment, observed in Ainsworth's Strange Situation, develops through responsive caregiving and is essential for healthy psychosocial growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
John Bowlby's theory of attachment posits that early social interaction and bonding with a primary caregiver are fundamental to a child's long-term psychosocial development.
Social releasers, such as smiles and coos from an infant, play an essential role in forming these attachment bonds by eliciting responsive caregiving.
Through research, such as that conducted by Mary Ainsworth with the Strange Situation procedure, different styles of attachment have been identified, including secure attachment, which is characterized by distress on separation but comfort upon reunion and is typically a result of sensitive and responsive caregiving.
Research supports the importance of these attachments, as Harlow's studies with rhesus monkeys demonstrated that comfort provided by a soft, terrycloth mother figure was preferred over a wire mother that provided nourishment, highlighting the value of emotional and physical comfort in attachments.
One of the strengths of Bowlby's theory of attachment is that evidence shows that social releasers are important in the formation of attachment.
Social releasers are behaviors or signals displayed by infants that elicit caregiving responses from adults.
For example, a baby smiling at their caregiver is a social releaser that encourages the caregiver to respond with care and attention. This contributes to the development of a secure attachment bond between the infant and the caregiver.