Attachment: state of the art
College 4 07-12-2016
Attachment
Humans are evolutionary biased to become attached (Bowlby, 1969)
- Evolutionary theory, evolution adaption to the environment
Individual differences in attachment quality: genes or environment?
Attachment Classifications and Evolution Theory
Belsky: Strategies of attachment (A,B,C) based on evolution
A,B,C strategies functional in various niches, environmental adaption
Not only survival, but also reproduction (Belsky):
- Quality of offspring, invest in their survival
- Quantity of offspring, in hostile environments: getting many children in the chance
that at least one survives
- Indirect
Attachment and reproduction
Inclusive fitness: the helper in this case, person who invests in the child tends to gain in
promoting the survival, because siblings share genes, so it’s good when someone invests
in someone with the same genes.
Evolutionary explanations
Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness: when you see that something doesn’t work,
think back to the time when something evolved.
- Scarcity in environment scarce parenting insecure IWM ( early parenting)
- Israel/Africa more C: closeness in dangerous world? Because of this, this sort of
thinking started.
Parent-Offspring conflict:
- Infanticide: Stepfathers > Fathers > Young mothers > older mothers
- There are inadvantages for the parents as well, sometimes the costs in investing in
the child is more then what you gain from it.
Life History Theory (LHT): investment choices (influencing reproductive fitness)
- Early vs late reproduction
- High quantity vs high quality
- Mating vs parenting
- (consequences for intervention studies)
College 4 07-12-2016
Attachment
Humans are evolutionary biased to become attached (Bowlby, 1969)
- Evolutionary theory, evolution adaption to the environment
Individual differences in attachment quality: genes or environment?
Attachment Classifications and Evolution Theory
Belsky: Strategies of attachment (A,B,C) based on evolution
A,B,C strategies functional in various niches, environmental adaption
Not only survival, but also reproduction (Belsky):
- Quality of offspring, invest in their survival
- Quantity of offspring, in hostile environments: getting many children in the chance
that at least one survives
- Indirect
Attachment and reproduction
Inclusive fitness: the helper in this case, person who invests in the child tends to gain in
promoting the survival, because siblings share genes, so it’s good when someone invests
in someone with the same genes.
Evolutionary explanations
Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness: when you see that something doesn’t work,
think back to the time when something evolved.
- Scarcity in environment scarce parenting insecure IWM ( early parenting)
- Israel/Africa more C: closeness in dangerous world? Because of this, this sort of
thinking started.
Parent-Offspring conflict:
- Infanticide: Stepfathers > Fathers > Young mothers > older mothers
- There are inadvantages for the parents as well, sometimes the costs in investing in
the child is more then what you gain from it.
Life History Theory (LHT): investment choices (influencing reproductive fitness)
- Early vs late reproduction
- High quantity vs high quality
- Mating vs parenting
- (consequences for intervention studies)
