Looking back on my lecture notes I know that I have really enjoyed learning so many different aspects of child development within psychology. One which I seemed to have enjoyed a lot is attachment theory. It has been found that attachment occurs in the first twelve to twenty four hours of life and that the social behaviour children bring into the classroom is related to attachment.  This is so important as a teacher to know as I must be able to relate to pupils and their past.

Psychologist John Bowlby carried out an experiment in 1944. He wanted to find out the long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people in order to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation. Bowlby interviewed 44 teenagers who were in a child prison program for stealing. He then selected 44 children who had emotional issues and were in the program. But, they had not committed any offences. Bowlby had meetings with parents from both groups to state whether their children had experienced separation during the critical period of a child’s life and for how long. It was found that 70% of the thieves had maternal deprivation and that a big number of the young thieves (32%) showed ‘affectionless psychopathy.’  Highlighting that attachment is so serious in the development of a child for the issues that will occur in the rest of their life.

Therefore, this experiment by Bowlby lets us understand the importance of attachment. It can be such a huge influence on the future of a child- academically and socially.