Theories of Development and the Effects of Child Abuse, Part 2: Bowlby and Bandura by Dr. Michael Elterman

							Theories of Development and the Effects of Child Abuse, Part 2: Bowlby and Bandura
by Dr. Michael Elterman
This is Part 2 of 2 in Dr. Michael Elterman’s outline of some major theories of childhood development
and some possible outcomes of abuse from each perspective.




Bowlby: Development
The psychological community credits John Bowlby with the development of attachment theory. Attachment, in
his research, refers to a unique emotional relationship involving care, comfort, and pleasure. According to
Bowlby, the attachment one forms as an infant with one’s caregiver establishes a style that will resonate in
one’s behavior throughout life. In his theory, there are four components to attachment: desiring close
proximity to a caregiver, viewing the caregiver as a safe haven, viewing the caregiver as a secure base, and
experiencing anxiety when separated from the caregiver.
Bowlby: Abuse
Children who are abused, depending on the nature of the abuse, will form what researcher Mary Ainsworth
referred to as insecure attachment styles. The three types of insecure attachment styles are avoidant,
ambivalent, and disorganized. The avoidant-insecure style fosters the development of rigidity, excessive
criticism, and the avoidance of closeness. The ambivalent-insecure style leads to erratic behaviors, overly
controlling tendencies, anxiety, and insecurity. Finally, the disorganized-insecure type entails adult
characteristics including insensitivity, an inability to trust, and abusive tendencies.

Bandura: Development
Albert Bandura      proposed the social learning theory, which holds many tenants of traditional learning
theory, with an important social element added to the equation. In essence, developing children observe the
behaviors of those around them, and this observational learning or modeling shapes a child’s future behavior.
Bandura’s theory involves three main concepts: people learn through observation, people incorporate mental
states in the social learning process, and not everything learned results in a behavior change.
Bandura: Abuse
To prove the existence of social learning, Bandura created what is called the Bobo Doll Experiment in which
young children observed an adult interacting with a large doll, either displaying aggressive or non-aggressive
behaviors. As predicted, children who observed adults acting aggressively were significantly more likely to
behave similarly. The implication for child abuse is that children exposed to a high degree of violence at a
young age might be more likely to agree that this type of behavior is normal and model their behaviors
accordingly when confronted with a similar situation.