Lina Laraki Elhoussaini SPC 1608

February 18, 2019 Pr. Stone

Topic: Attachment Theory

Specific Purpose: To inform my SPC 1608 class about how our early working model of
attachment influence our adulthood’s relationship.

Introduction
Attention Getter: “Baby crying audio” and then say: Childhood (silence), is the period of
our lives when most of our development occur. These early years of development are critical for
providing the basis of our cognition, language, and motor development, as well as social,
emotional, regulatory, and moral development

Credibility Statement: As a psychology major student who studied psychology of

development, I have done multiple research ranging from reading peer review article, to visiting
.org domain websites to watching crash courses video. All of this enabled me to deepen my
knowledge about the theory of attachment.

Common Ground Statement: As adults we all have different history background that
shaped who we are today. Sometimes we do behave in a certain way without consciously knowing
why. By listening to me today, you will understand how your early interaction with your
surrounding affects your current relationships.

Thesis Statement: Early childhood interaction with our caregiver shapes our believes
about other’s responsiveness to our needs which in return guide our interaction with others in
adulthood.

Preview Statement: Today, I will inform you about the theory of attachment. And, in order
to do that, I will start by explaining the theory. Then I will talk about the different types of
attachment and finally I will talk about how different people with different types of attachment
deal with their relationships.

Transition So, Let’s start by explaining attachment theory.

Body:

I. Main point 1: Attachment theory emphasize the early child experience regarding the
responsiveness and trustworthiness of his or her surroundings.

A. Subpoint 1: Children can express attachment behavior since their earliest age, such as
smiling, crying, crawling, looking for proximity with the caregiver and so on.

1) Support: According to Saul McLeod 2017, on Simply Psychology a website with the
domain.org, Children come into the world biologically preprogrammed to form
 attachment with others through attachment behavior in order to survive. They
aim to gather care, proximity and responsiveness from others. (McLeod, 2017)

Transition  However, each one of us here is unique. We are all different. And even our type of
attachment is different.

II. Main point 2: Mary Ainsworth is a well-known developmental psychologist, she

identified 3 types of attachment

A. Subpoint 1: According to Segal, she published an article on 2018 on help-guide which is a

.org domain that specialize in mental health and wellness. Secure attachment is when the
child feels secure, safe and understood enough to experience an optimal development.

1) Support According to a study done in 2001 with 14 000 American children, 60 %

of children developed a strong and secure attachment to their caregiver (parents).
(Huber and Wilson, 2014)
2) Support: Children with secure attachment had a caregiver who adapted to them,
who was sensitive and responsive to their needs. (Psych alive, n.d)

B. Subpoint 2: The second category is the unsecure attachment which include both avoidant
and resistant attachment. Children with avoidant attachment are independent from their
caregiver both physically and emotionally. While Insecure resistant attachment, the child
is expressing both clingy, dependent behavior toward the caregiver and can also reject
and resist to the caregiver when engaging in an interaction. (McLeod, 2018)

1) Support: According to the same study published on Princeton university website,

40% of the same sample lack strong emotional bonds. More specifically, 25%
express an avoidant attachment and 15% express a resistant attachment toward
their parents. (Huber and Wilson, 2014)
2) Support: Children with avoidant attachment had caregiver who was emotionally
unavailable insensitive and rejecting to their needs. (Catlett, n.d)
3) Support: Children with Resistant attachment on the other hand, had a caregiver
who had an inconsistent level of response to the child’s needs. (Catlett, n.d)

Transition  Some research seems to indicate that early attachment style forms the basis of our
adult relationship later in life. Especially, as it relates to our comfort with affection and intimacy.

C. Main point 3: By developing the working model of early attachment, along with our
genetic, we can see an impact on the adult’s social relationship and emotional regulation.

A. Subpoint 1: As adults, people with secure attachment experience security with their
partners and can easily trust them.
 1) Support: Most of them enjoy being in social relationship and receive positive
outcome from school. They also know how to be secured by themselves and rely
on them as well as count on others for responsiveness. (khan academy medicine,
2014)

B. Subpoint 2: On the other hand, adults with unsecure attachment experience

insecurity and anxiety in their relationship. They also avoid being too much attached
to any person.

1) Support: They can show constant extreme jealousy, too much worry, they have
difficulty trusting others and always seeks reasurance. As an example, would be
someone who ever trust his partner when he says he loves them. (khan academy
medicine, 2014)

Transition  So let’s wrap things up.

Conclusion

Review of main points: Today I have discussed with you the theory of attachment, what are the
different types of attachment, what parenting have in common in each type of attachment. And I
finally I talked about how our model of attachment impact our behavior in our grown-up
relationships.

Reinforcement of thesis: Next time you are in a relationship, and your partner is expression some
lack of confidence and have difficulty trusting you, you have now a better understanding that you
are not the problem and that this behavior is related to his or her early childhood experience.

Clincher: Finally, I would like to leave you with the words of Johnny Stones (2016):” Never
complain about what your parents couldn’t give you. It was probably all they had.”
 References

Firestone, L. (n.d). Change your attachment style to have a better life. Psych Alive. Retrieved

from: https://www.psychalive.org/change-attachment-style-better-life/

Fraley, R. C. (n.d). Adult attachment theory and research. Retrieved from:

http://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm

Huber, R. and Wilson, W. (2014). Four in 10 infants lack strong parental attachments. Princeton

University. Retrieved from: https://www.princeton.edu/news/2014/03/27/four-10-infants-

lack-strong-parental-attachments

Khanacademymedicine. (2014, September 19). Secure and insecure attachment | Individuals and

Society | MCAT | Khan Academy. [ Video File]. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtAyPy1OZCw

McLeod, S.A (2017). Bowlby’s attachment theory. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/attachment.html

McLeod, S.A. (2018). Mary Ainsworth. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html

Johnny Stones. (2016). Quotes. Truth Inside of You. Retrieved from:

https://www.truthinsideofyou.org/never-complain-about-what-your-parents-couldnt-

give-you-it-was-probably-all-they-had/