John Bowlby Theory

     
             John  Bowlby was born in 1907, he  developed the attachment theory, which he believed that attachment bond develops easily during sensitive period, and attachment behaviors are instinctive and will be achieved by any conditions that seem to threaten the achievement of proximity, such as  separation, insecurity and fear. There are  4 phases of attachment first, is preattachment phase from birth to 6 weeks, in the phase the infant will recognizes mother's voice,smell, and face , but not yet attached to her, they will also learn to built signals, such as grasping, smiling and crying. Second, attachment in the making phase from 6 weeks to 6-8 months, they start to develop the sense of trust and the expectation that caregiver will respond when signaled, but still not protest when separated from caregiver. Third, clear-cut attachment phase from 6-8 months to 18- 2 years, in this phase the  attachment to the caregiver is evident and they display separation anxiety which they will be upset when the caregiver is not there. Finally, formation of reciprocal relationship from 18 months to 2 years onwards, there are rapid growth in representation and language permits toddlers to understand some factors that influence the parents coming and going to predict his or her return and the separation protest decline in this phase they will as well negotiate by using requests and persuasion to alter their goal.

                However there are critics about the attachment theory.One of the main critics of  Bowlby's attachment theory is J. R. Harris. People assume that kind, honest, and respectful parents will have kind, honest, and respectful children and parents that are rude, liars, and disrespectful will have children that are the same way. This may not be the case according to Harris. Harris (1998) believes that parents do not shape their child's personality or character. A child's peers have more influence on them than their parents. For example, take children whose parents were immigrants. A child can continue to speak their parent's native language at home, but can also learn their new language and speak it without an accent, while the parents accent remains. Children learn these things from their peers because they want to fit in (Harris, 1998). Nature is the genetics that parents pass down to their child, and nurture is the way the parents bring the child up. It is a common belief in psychology that "nature gives parents a baby: the end result depends on how they nurture it. Good nurturing can make up for many of nature's mistakes: lack of nurturing can trash nature's best effort" (Harris, 1998, p. 2). Harris (1998) disagrees with this statement because she does not believe that nurture should be labeled as a synonym for environment, which it is in many psychology textbooks and papers. Using these two words interchangeably leads us to assume that what influences a child's development, along with genes, is parental up bringing. Harris calls this the nurture assumption. She disproves this assumption by showing that what children learn in the home may be irrelevant in the outside world. For example, identical twins separated at birth and brought up in separate homes are more likely to have the same habits, hobbies, and styles than identical twins raised in the same household. This shows the power of nature but not of nurture.
       John Bowlby attachment theory is  more focus on the mother's role and he didn't touch the father's role. There are pro and corns about this attachment theory developed by him and his theory still have the limitations and not fully developed.