Human bonding is the development of a close,
interpersonal
relationship between family members or friends. Bonding is a
mutual,
interactive process, and
is not the same as simple
liking.
The term is from the 12th century,
Middle
English word
band or
band, which refers to
something that binds, ties, or restrains. In early usage, a
bondman, bondwoman, or bondservant was a feudal serf that was
obligated to work for his or her lord without pay (in modern usage,
a bondsman is a person who provides
bonds
or
surety for someone).
Bonding typically refers to the process of
attachment that develops between romantic
partners, close friends, or parents and children. This bond is
characterized by
emotions such as
affection and
trust. Any two people that spend
time together may form a bond.
Male
bonding refers to the establishment of relationships between
men through shared activities that often exclude females. The term
female bonding is less frequently
used, but refers to the formation of close personal relationships
between women.
Early views
In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher
Plato argued that
love directs the
bonds of human society. In his
Symposium, Eryximachus, one of the
narrators in the dialog, states that love goes far beyond simple
attraction to human beauty. He states that it occurs throughout the
animal and plant
kingdoms, as well
as throughout the
universe. Love directs
everything that occurs, in the realm of the gods as well as that of
humans (186a-b).
Eyrximachus reasons that when various opposing elements such as wet
and dry are "animated by the proper species of Love, they are in
harmony with one another... But when the sort of Love that is crude
and impulsive controls the seasons, he brings death and
destruction" (188a). Because it is love that guides the relations
between these sets of opposites throughout existence, in every case
it is the higher form of love that brings harmony and cleaves
toward the good, whereas the impulsive vulgar love creates
disharmony.
Plato concludes that the highest form of love is the greatest. When
love "is directed, in temperance and justice, towards the good,
whether in heaven or on earth: happiness and good fortune, the
bonds of human society, concord with the gods above- all these are
among his gifts" (188d).
In the 1660s, the Dutch philosopher
Spinoza
wrote, in his
Ethics of Human Bondage or the Strength of the
Emotions, that the term "bondage" relates to the human
infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions. That is,
according to Spinoza, "when a man is prey to his emotions, he is
not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune."
In 1809
Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, in his classic novella
Elective Affinities, wrote of the
"marriage tie," and by analogy shows how strong marriage unions are
similar in character to that by which the particles of
quicksilver find a unity together though
the process of
chemical affinity.
Humans in passionate relationships, according to Goethe, are
analogous to reactive substances in a
chemical equation.
Pair bonding
The term,
pair-bond originated in 1940 in
reference to mated pairs of birds. It is a generic term signifying
a monogamous or relatively monogamous relationship in either humans
or animals. The term is commonly used in
sociobiology and
evolutionary psychology.
Pair-bonding, usually of a fairly short duration, occurs in a
variety of primate species. Some scientists speculate that
prolonged bonds developed in humans along with increased sharing of
food.
Limerent bond
According to
limerence theory, positioned in 1979 by
psychologist
Dorothy Tennov, a
certain percentage of couples may go through what is called a
limerent reaction, in which one or both of the pair may
experience a state of passion mixed with continuous intrusive
thinking, fear of rejection, and hope. Hence, with all human
romantic relationships, one of three varieties of
bonds
may form, defined over a set duration of time, in relation to the
experience or non-experience of limerence:
- Affectional bond: define relationships in
which neither partner is limerent.
- Limerent-Nonlimerent bond: define
relationships in which one partner is limerent.
- Limerent-Limerent bond: define relationships
in which both partners are limerent.
The constitution of these bonds may vary over the course of the
relationship, in ways that may either increase or decrease the
intensity of the
limerence. The basis and
interesting characteristic of this delineation made by Tennov, is
that based on her research and interviews with over 500 people, all
human bonded relationships can be divided into three varieties
being defined by the amount of limerence or non-limerence each
partner contributes to the relationship.
Parental bonding
Attachment
In 1958, British developmental psychologist
John Bowlby published the ground-breaking paper
"the Nature of the Child's Tie to his Mother", in which the
precursory concepts of "
attachment
theory" were developed. This included the development of the
concept of the
affectional bond, sometimes
referred to as the
emotional bond, which is based on the
universal tendency for humans to attach, i.e. to seek closeness to
another person and to feel secure when that person is present.
Attachment theory has some of its origins in the observation of and
experiments with animals, but is also based on observations of
children who had missed typical experiences of adult care. Much of
the early research on attachment in humans was done by John Bowlby
and his associates. Bowlby proposed that babies have an inbuilt
need from birth to make emotional attachments, i.e. bonds, because
this increases the chances of survival by ensuring that they
receive the care they need.Bowlby did not describe mutuality in
attachment. He stated that attachment by mother was a pathological
inversion and described only behaviors of the infant. Ainsworth
attempted to follow this amazing tunnel vision, but found she could
not avoid eye-to-eye contact with infant and mother. She was not
successful in the use of infant gaze because she did not
differentiate frightened hyper-alert states from affectonant
interaction. Many developmental specialists elaborated Bowlby's
ethological observations. However, neither Bowlby's proximity
seeking (not possible for human infants prior to walking) nor
subsequent descriptions of caregiver-infant mutuality with
emotional availability and synchrony with emotional modulation
include the enduring motivation of attachment into adult life.The
enduring motivation is the desire to control a pleasantly
surprising transformation that is the route of belief in
effectiveness by humans. This motivation accounts for curiosity and
intellectual growth of language, mathematics and logic all of which
have an emotional base of security. See Smith, R.H. and Ostfeld,
B.M. "Engageance, a Practical Elaboration of Attachment in Mother's
of At-Risk Infants. Int.J.Family Pyschiatry, 1984.
Maternal bonding
Of all human bonds, the
maternal bond is one of
the strongest. The maternal bond begins to develop during
pregnancy; following pregnancy, the production of
oxytocin during
lactation
increases
parasympathetic activity,
thus reducing
anxiety and theoretically
fostering bonding. It is generally understood that maternal
oxytocin circulation can predispose some mammals to show caregiving
behavior in response to young of their species.
Breastfeeding has been reported to
foster the early post-partum maternal bond, via touch, response,
and mutual gazing. Extensive claims for the effect of breastfeeding
were made in the 1930s by Margaret Ribble, a champion of "infant
rights", but were rejected on scientific grounds. The claimed
effect is not universal, and bottle-feeding mothers are generally
appropriately concerned with their babies. It is difficult to
determine the extent of causality due to a number of confounding
variables, such as the varied reasons families choose different
feeding methods. Many believe that early bonding ideally increases
response and sensitivity to the child's needs, bolstering the
quality of the mother-baby relationship – however, many exceptions
can be found of highly successful mother-baby bonds, even though
early breastfeeding did not occur, such as with premature infants
who may lack the necessary sucking strength to successfully
breastfeed.
Father playing with his young daughter
- an activity that tends to strengthen the
father-child
bond.
Paternal bonding
In contrast to the maternal bond,
paternal bonds
tend to vary over the span of a child’s development in terms of
both strength and stability. In fact, many children now grow up in
fatherless households and do not experience a paternal bond at all.
In general, paternal bonding is more dominant later in a child’s
life after language develops. Fathers may be more influential in
play-interactions as opposed to nurturance-interactions.
Father-child bonds also tend to develop with respect to topics such
as political views or money, whereas mother-child bonds tend to
develop in relation to topics such as religious views or general
outlooks on life.
In 2003, researcher from Northwestern University in Illinois found
that
progesterone, a hormone more
usually associated with pregnancy and maternal bonding, may also
control the way men react towards their children. Specifically,
they found that a lack of progesterone reduced aggressive behaviour
in male mice and stimulated them to act in a fatherly way towards
their offspring.
Human-animal bonding
Human-animal bond human to animal
contact is known to reduce the physiological characteristics of
stress.
The
human-animal bond can be defined as a
connection between people and animals, domestic or wild; be it a
cat as a pet or birds outside one’s window.
Research into the
nature and merit of the human animal bond began in the late 1700s
when, in York, England, the Society
of Friends established the The Retreat
to provide humane treatment for the mentally
ill. By having patients care for the many farm animals on
the estate, society officials theorized that the combination of
animal contact plus productive work would facilitate the patients’
rehabilitation. In the 1870s in Paris, a French surgeon had
patients with neurological disorders ride horses. The patients were
found to have improved their motor control and balance and were
less likely to suffer bouts of depression.
In the 19th century, in Bielefeld, Germany, epileptic patients were
given the prescription to spend time each day taking care of cats
and dogs. The contact with the animals was found to reduce the
occurrence of seizures.
In 1980, a team of scientists at the University of
Pennsylvania
found that human to animal contact was found to
reduce the physiological characteristics of stress; specifically,
lowered levels of blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate,
anxiety, and tension were all found to correlate positively with
human pet bonding.
Historically, animals were domesticated for functional use; for
example, dogs for herding and tracking, and cats for killing mice
or rats. Today, in Western societies, their function is primarily a
bonding function. For example, current studies show that 60–80% of
dogs sleep with their owners at night in the bedroom, either in or
on the bed. Moreover, in the past the majority of cats were kept
outside (barn cats) whereas today most cats are kept indoors
(housecats) and considered part of the family. Presently, in the
US, for example, 1.2 billion animals are kept as pets, primarily
for bonding purposes. In addition, as of 1995 there were over 30
research institutions looking into the potential benefits of the
human animal bond.
Neurobiology
There is evidence in a variety of species that the
hormones oxytocin and
vasopressin are involved in the bonding
process, and in other forms of prosocial and reproductive behavior.
Both chemicals facilitate pair bonding and maternal behavior in
experiments on laboratory animals. In humans, there is evidence
that oxytocin and vasopressin are released during
labor and
breastfeeding, and that these events are
associated with maternal bonding. According to one model, social
isolation leads to stress, which is associated with activity in the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
axis and the release of
cortisol.
Positive social interaction is associated with increased oxytocin.
This leads to bonding, which is also associated with higher levels
of oxytocin and vasopressin, and reduced stress and stress-related
hormones.
Oxytocin is associated with higher levels of trust in laboratory
studies on humans. It has been called the "cuddle chemical" for its
role in facilitating trust and attachment. In the reward centers of
the
limbic system, the
neurotransmitter,
dopamine may interact with oxytocin and further
increase the likelihood of bonding. One team of researchers has
argued that oxytocin only plays a secondary role in affiliation,
and that
endogenous opiates play the
central role. According to this model, affiliation is a function of
the brain systems underlying reward and memory formation.
Because the vast majority of this research has been done on
animals-- and the majority of that on rodents-- these findings must
be taken with caution when applied to humans. One of the few
studies that looked at the influence of hormones on human bonding
compared participants who had recently fallen in love with a
control group. There were no differences for most of the hormones
measured, including
LH,
estradiol,
progesterone,
DHEAS, and
androstenedione.
Testosterone and
FSH were
lower in men who had recently fallen in love, and there was also a
difference in blood
cortisol for both
sexes, with higher levels in the group that was in love. These
differences disappeared after 12-28 months and may reflect the
temporary stress and arousal of a new relationship.
Weak ties
In 1962,
Mark Granovetter, a freshman
history major at Harvard
, became
enamored with the concepts underlying the classic chemistry lecture
in which "weak" hydrogen bonds hold
huge water molecule together, which themselves are held together by
"strong" covalent bonds. This
model was the stimulus behind his famous 1973 paper
The
Strength of Weak Ties, which is now considered a classic paper
in
sociology.
Weak social bonds are believed to be responsible for the majority
of the embeddedness and structure of
social networks in
society as well as the transmission of
information through these networks.
Specifically, more novel information flows to individuals through
weak than through strong ties. Because our close friends tend to
move in the same circles that we do, the information they receive
overlaps considerably with what we already know. Acquaintances, by
contrast, know people that we do not, and thus receive more novel
information.
Debonding and loss
In 1976, sociologist Diane Vaughan proposed an “uncoupling theory”,
where, during the dynamics of relationship breakup, there exists a
"turning point", only noted in hindsight, followed by a transition
period in which one partner unconsciously knows the relationship is
going to end, but holds on to it for an extended period, sometimes
for a number of years.
When a person to which one has become bonded is lost, a
grief response may occur. Grief is the process of
accepting the loss and adjusting to the changed situation. Grief
may take longer than the initial development of the bond, typically
one to two years for the loss of a marital partner. The grief
process varies with culture.
See also
References
- Webster’s New World College Dictionary © 1996.
- The
Free Dictionary
- Online Etymology Dictionary - Search: "pair
bond"
- Microsoft Encarta
2006. Premium Edition © 1993–2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
- Cesk, Cas Lek. (2000). " Development of the Maternal Bond during
Pregnancy." Jan 19 ; 139(1): 5-8.
- Ribble, M. (1939). The significance of infantile sucking for
the psychic development of the individual. Journal of Nervous and
Mental Disease, 90, 455-463.
- Pinneau, S.R. (1950). A critique on the articles by Margaret
Ribble. Child Development, 21(4),203-228.
- Rossi, A. & Rossi, P. (1990). Of Human Bonding: Parent
Child Relations Across the Life Course. Chicago: Aldine. ISBN
0-202-30361-6
- Levine, Jon (2003). " Secret of Paternal Bond." BBC News / Health, Tuesday,
25 February.
- Latter, L. (1995). Article: “Human Pet Bonding”. Source: Animal Welfare Society –
Southeastern Michigan.
- Article: “The Changing Status of Human-Animal Bonds”.
Source: University of Minnesota.
- Carter, C. S. (1998). Neuroendocrine perspectives on social
attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology,
23, 779-818.
- Depue, R. A., & Morrone-Strupinsky, J. V. (2005). A
neurobehavioral model of affiliative bonding: Implications for
conceptualizing a human trait of affliation. Behavioral and
Brain Sciences, 28, 313-395.
- Marazziti, D., & Canale, D. (2004). Hormonal changes when
falling in love. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29,
931-936.
- Granovetter, M.D. (2004). " The Impact of Social Structures on Economic
Development." Journal of Economic Perspectives (Vol 19
Number 1, pp. 33–50).
Further reading
Books
- Miller, W.B. & Rodgers, J.L. (2001). The Ontogeny of
Human Bonding Systems: Evolutionary Origins, Neural Bases, and
Psychological Manifestations. New York: Springer. ISBN
0-7923-7478-9
Articles
- Thorne, L. (2006). " Of Human Bonding" - Condo Dwellers Find Cool
Ways to Connect With the Neighbors., Express
(Washingtonpost.com), Mon., (Aug. 07)
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