To oversimplify a secure attachment, the child develops a strong internal representation of the Other. My understanding is that this contributes to the ability to "hold both truths," enabling repression to occur over suppression and splitting. Cognitive development is a complicated process, but seems to involve a relationship with the world in which experience and information must be held, 'internalized,' etc, to develop into knowledge, understanding, and the capacity to see multiple perspectives. I am wondering about research that correlates any level of abstract thought with the internal representation of the attachment figure.
In broader terms (but perhaps too broad), what do we know about how cognitive development is influenced by emotional development?
Hi,
I came across an interesting article that connects attachment to moral judgement, which though is not exactly on the topic of your question may provide some insight. I'm also not sure that characterizing abstract thought as beginning with object permanence does justice to either idea. There are so many stages and skills that are involved with abstract thought, object permanence is merely one of them.
Here is the article reference:
Govrin, A. (2014). The ABC of moral development: An attachment approach to moral judgment. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 6. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00006
Hope this helps (and makes sense :)).
Cheers,
Gal.
Thank you for your answer! You have a good point about abstract thought. I took a bit of a reductionist approach in an attempt to get my line of thinking across without going on for too long, but I can see what you mean. Thanks so much for the article and your insights.
I edited the question a bit with your comment in mind. Not sure if it makes more sense or if it's just a problematic question at its core. Anyway, thank you!
I suggest to look at AAI researches where scores on state of mind scales are reported. In fact, the Metacognitive Monitoring scale of the AAI clearly reflects a process of "thinking about thinking", a core process in the abstract thought, and high scores in this scale are usually associated with secure attachment and positive indicators of mental health.
Teresa Jacobsen has an excellent study on abstract thought and attachment: Jacobsen et al, (1994). A longitudinal study of the relation between representations of attachment in childhood and cognitive functioning in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, 112-124.
There are cases of insecure attachment in early childhood connected with abstract thinking and cognitive orientation at school and in adult age. Those people may suffer from a schizoid personality disorder (about 1% of population). They are then splitted from their body and emotions, but often very successful in cognitive tasks and intellectual professions. They can be treated by therapeutic sensitization for their feelings. As children they lacked empathy by their parents and were mistreated in an unpredictable way. Therefore they are attached unsecurely.
One place to look is a somewhat outdated but important theoretical view regarding transitional objects. Unfortunately, this theory has lost some of its favor, but fits well into the issue you are discussing. See D.W. Winnicott.
A Vygotskian perspective and reframing of attachment may help with this. Also, there is the whole body of Bi-logic and the theories of Matte Blanco which are concerned with the interface of feeling and thinking but that body of theory does not have any evidence base.
I see I came late to the party. This seems like an excellent question and I wonder what you have discovered in the research that supports the connection between abstract thinking and attachment.
I think you are on to something here. If abstract thought is a factor in developing internal representations, then ability at abstract thinking could have some impact on attachment. That would make a very interesting study!
Attachment and attachment insecurity in individuals with autism (impaired abstract thinking) may be a good subject to study in relation to your question. I came across a paper that apparently pertains to this topic. The reference is:
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2004 Sep;45(6):1123-34.
Autism and attachment: a meta-analytic review.
Rutgers AH1, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van Ijzendoorn MH, van Berckelaer-Onnes IA.
Hope it can be helpful or at least interesting.
Attachment & thought remain all the time a companion so to say a coin of two side. Attachment has an attraction of feelings,thought ,sympathy surrender & last but not least a love from within.
There is bound to be a relation between attachment & thought unless both do not join in ideological way ,attachment may not come into the picture .
This is my personal opinion .
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