Life of Joe Bloggs: Analyzing Attachment Theory & Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

Background information on Joe Bloggs

This essay will analyse the life of the singer Joe Bloggs from the perspective of two different theories of lifespan development: attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth et al, 1978), and Erikson’s (1963) theory of psychosocial development. The main sources used in this analysis are Bloggs’ own autobiography, Why I am so great, (Bloggs, 1995) and an in-depth BBC interview with Bloggs from 1999, available on youtube (Smith57, 2002). 

Joseph Augustus Bloggs was born in Brixton in 1954, the youngest of 4 boys in a working class family (Bloggs, 1995). His father was a tailor and his parents divorced when he was 8 (Bloggs, 1995). Although brought up to follow his father's career path, Bloggs "was always a singer", as he stated in Rolling Stone magazine, "I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. That was me." (Bloggs, 1995, p. 12). Joe experienced great success with his band Plumbus, but suffered drug addiction in his late 20s and the band ended acrimoniously (Smith57, 2002). Joe was married for 5 years to Martha, but he was unfaithful to her throughout the marriage (Smith57, 2002). Joe is currently in his 60s and lives alone with his dog Morty. In 2010 Joe set up a charitable foundation to help deprived children from south London. 
You choose the person and the 2 theories You need to use all these subheadings in your report 
3. Analysis of the case: Attachment Theory [about 900 words]

Notes: 
1. See documentary on youtube (Smith57, 2002): “his mother was a bit…neglectful”. 
2. Inferred from Joe’s statements (see Bloggs, 1995; pp. 7, 32, 111): “you should never rely on people as they always let you down in the end” 
3. Bloggs (1995, p. 40): “At school I never had a best friend”.

4. “he couldn’t be vulnerable and had a nasty temper when he got jealous” (Green, 2006; p. 172). 
5. “the most amazing person: she taught me how to be strong and how you should never rely on people” (Bloggs, 1995, p. 80). 
Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) is a theory about parent-child bonding in early infancy and how that can affect later development. Four distinct attachment types have been identified (Ainsworth et al 1978; Main & Solomon, 1986). These are secure, avoidant (dismissing), ambivalent (preoccupied), and disorganized (fearful). There is quite good evidence that Joe has a dismissing attachment style. In childhood, Joe’s mother was said to have been neglectful (Smith57, 2002), and Joe talks about being left alone a lot when young (Bloggs, 1995). This style of parenting is consistent with a child developing an insecure avoidant style (Ainsworth et al, 1978), corresponding to a dismissing internal working model (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). Using the adult attachment interview criteria (see Hesse, 2008), Joe’s statements about his mother correspond quite well to several of the dismissing factors. For example, low coherence (e.g. “My mum was always really nice; she only shouted at people she didn’t like” (Bloggs, 1995, p. 7); little articulation of hurt, distress or feelings of needing to depend on others (e.g. “I didn’t mind being left alone it’s good to be strong and not rely on people” (Bloggs, 1995, p. 16); and contempt for other people, or for events usually considered sad (e.g. “I don’t like it when people show emotions. People who whine ‘no-one understands me, my life is so hard’. 
Those people make me sick, to be honest” (Bloggs 1995,p. 48).

This also fits, on the whole, with an analysis of his behaviour in romantic relationships using Brennan, Clark and Shaver’s (1998) model, although there may be some debate about the best classification here. He definitely shows some anxiety about closeness (his wife Martha said “he was impossible to get close to: he wouldn’t show vulnerability”; Green 2006, p. 12) but he also shows jealousy, which suggests high fear of abandonment. These two features (anxiety about closeness and about abandonment) would suggest fearful attachment type rather than dismissing (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). However…