Love Takes Root in Earliest Infancy

The article, Ability to Love Takes Root in Earliest Infancy, posted on December 14, 2011 in ScienceDaily summarizes psychologist Jeffry A. Simpson, the author, with University of Minnesota and colleagues W. Andrew Collins and Jessica E. Salvatore conclusions on a study of when the ability to love is rooted. The article proclaims "The ability to trust, love, and resolve conflict with loved ones starts in childhood -- way earlier than you may think." Simpson found that a person’s interpersonal experiences with their mother during the first 12 to 18 months of life predict their behavior in romantic relationships 20 years later. Simpson believes that before a child can remember, speak or describe how they feel, implicit attitudes get encoded into the mind about how that child will be treated or how worthy they are of love and affection. Simpson recognizes that attitudes can change with new relationships, introspection, and therapy but notes that in times of stress old patterns often reassert themselves. To test their predictions, Simpson and his team have been investigating the links between mother-infant relationships and later love partnerships as part of the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. Their subjects consist of 75 children of low-income mothers whom they've been assessing from birth into their early 30s, including their close friends and romantic partners. The children -- who are now adults -- return regularly for assessments of their emotional and social development. Since studying the children, -now adults- research has yielded evidence of early encoding, supporting Simpson's assertion that the ability to love takes root in earliest infancy. In a few cases, Simpson has found that a child who was neglected and unattended to could learn to overcome old patterns; A betrayed baby can become loyal; An unloved infant can learn to love. This article interested greatly because I have taken a few psychology classes here at Stockton but never learned of a specific study being done to prove that the adoration and love a child received from 12 to 18 months of life, greatly impacted their relationships later in their 20's.

The ability to trust, love, and resolve conflict with loved ones starts in childhood -- way earlier than you may think. Your interpersonal experiences with your mother during the first 12 to 18 months of life predict your behavior in romantic relationships 20 years later