The science behind Augustina
Some of you may have noticed through our Indiegogo campaign and thank you page on our website, that we talk about the science behind Augustina in relation to something known as 'Attachment Theory'. If you are new to attachment theory and do not know what it is then you are not alone - neither did the writer Katie Boyles until the start of her Augustina research! You might not know it yet but attachment theory affects every single one of us throughout our entire lifetime. To help sum up and answer the question as to what exactly attachment theory is, we have asked Dr Siobhan O'Leary, Clinical Psychologist, to fill us in…
What is Attachment Theory?
Attachment theory concerns our relationships with others. Most importantly, it is to do with our parental figures or the significant individuals in our early upbringing. But it is also very relevant to the other people in our lives with whom we share a close bond and dependency. The theory helps to explain many of the human experiences that are related to interactions with other people. For example, internal experiences such as how we think and feel about others, as well as external things, such as how we act and behave in situations that are socially related.
Whoever most frequently looks after us and meets our basic needs is considered our primary caregiver. The central element of attachment theory is that when we are born we have an innate, built-in drive to seek closeness or proximity to a caregiver. This safety seeking behaviour is an evolutionary survival strategy. If you think about early humans living hundreds of thousands of years ago in their habitats, which were extremely hostile environments, those infants that were able to keep physically closest to an adult were more likely to survive. The significance of this safety seeking behaviour has developed beyond protection alone however. This built-in drive for another to care for us has become responsible for many important aspects of personality development, such as how we learn about emotions and regulate them, how we understand and respond to perceived threat, and how we navigate the social world.
Attachment Theory in Augustina
Augustina deals with some of the issues that can result from problematic attachment. Kaylee’s story of negotiating early adolescence whilst carrying the burden of her parents’ difficulties has attachment theory at its heart. Katie, the writer of Augustina, met with experts in the fields of attachment and its clinical application. This background research informed the script and development of the story such that the characters in the film, and their various journeys, shed light on attachment theory in action.
(Kaylee becomes emotionally attached to Augustina)
Due to the difficult and complex attachment relationships Kaylee has with her parents, she develops a connection to Augustina that goes beyond the norm. Her unmet desires for her own nurturing, her need to compensate for the neglect in her life, her want for closeness, and her unexpressed emotions, all become enacted in the relationship between her and her educational baby.
The History
Attachment theory grew out of the separate work of psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth in the 1930s.
(Psychologist Mary Ainsworth and baby)
Bowlby laid the foundations of the theory and from 1950 collaborated with Ainsworth, merging ideas and benefiting from her empirical approach to testing them experimentally. Throughout the following few decades, Bowlby and Ainsworth’s combined thinking and research led to the generation of the theory of attachment, which has been evolving through psychological study ever since.
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