11. Explanations Of Attachment: Bowlby's Theory AO1

Question 1

What do you attachment and imprinting have in common?

Answer 1

They are both innate

Question 2

What was Bowlby’s evolutionary explanation?

Answer 2

• Infants and their caregivers have INHERITED mechanisms that enable them to attach to each other through natural selection

Question 3

Define monotropy

Answer 3

Infants have an innate capacity to attach to single caregiver

Question 4

Why is Bowlby’s theory described as monotropic?

Answer 4

Because of the emphasis on the Childs attachment to one caregiver (mono= ‘one’ and tropic= ‘leaning towards’)

Question 5

What is special about monotropic attachment?

Answer 5

This attachment is different from others and is more important

Question 6

What did Bowlby believe to be beneficial?

Answer 6

The more time a baby spends with its primary attachment figure the better

Question 7

What are the two main reasons for more time spent with the primary caregiver being beneficial to the baby?

Answer 7

1. Law of continuity

2. Law of accumulated separation

Question 8

What is law of continuity?

Answer 8

The more constant a Childs car the better the quality of attachment

Question 9

What is law of accumulated separation?

Answer 9

The effects of every separation add up, so the safest dose is therefore a zero dose

Question 10

What did Bowlby suggest a baby is born with?

Answer 10

A set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours (e.g smiling) that encourage attention from adults, these are called Social releasers

Question 11

What is the purpose of a social releaser?

Answer 11

To activate the adult attachment system (make them feel love towards the baby)

Question 12

What did Bowlby recognise about attachment?

Answer 12

That it is a reciprocal system

Question 13

What did Bowlby propose babies have?

Answer 13

He propose there is a critical period of about two years when the infant attachment system is active

Question 14

What happens if an attachment is not formed within the critical period?

Answer 14

The child will find it much harder to form an attachment later on

Question 15

What did boldly argue that the child forms?

Answer 15

He argued that a child forms of mental representation (internal working model) of the relationship with their primary attachment figure

Question 16

What does the internal working model serve as?

Answer 16

It serves as a template for what relationships are like

Question 17

What will occur in a child whose first experience is a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver?

Answer 17

They tend to form an expectation that all relationships are loving and reliable

Question 18

What else can the internal working model effect?

Answer 18

The Childs later ability to be a parent themselves

Question 19

Name one piece of supporting evidence for Bowlby’s theory

Answer 19

Lorenz also found a critical period in his animal study, imprinting/attaching is an innate process

Question 20

What are the parts that Bowlby broke stages of attachment into?

Answer 20

• Adaptive
• Social releasers
• Critical period
• Monotropy
• Internal working model
• Continuity hypothesis

Question 21

Define ‘adaptive’

Answer 21

This means they give our species an ‘adaptive advantage’, making us more likely to survive.

Question 22

What are infants more likely to survive if they are ‘adaptive’?

Answer 22

This is because if an infant has an attachment to a caregiver, they are kept safe, are given food, and kept warm.

Question 23

Define ‘social releasers’

Answer 23

These social releasers unlock the innate tendencies of adults to care for them

Question 24

What are the two types of ‘social releasers’?

Answer 24

Physical - ‘baby face’ features and body proportions

Behavioural - crying, laughing

Question 25

Define ‘critical period’

Answer 25

Babies have to form the attachment with their caregiver during a critical period, which is between birth and 2½ years old.

Question 26

What did Bowlby say would happen if attachment wasn’t formed with care giver in the ‘critical period’?

Answer 26

Bowlby said that if this didn’t happen, the child would be damaged for life – socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically

Question 27

Define ‘monotropy’

Answer 27

Bowlby believed that infants form one very special attachment with their mother, this attachment is called Monotropy.

Question 28

What could happen if the mother is not present and monotropy is disrupted?

Answer 28

If the mother isn’t available, the infant could bond with another more present adult, mother-substitute

Question 29

Define ‘internal working model’

Answer 29

This is a special mental schema for relationships. It serves as a model for what future relationships are like, it is formed throughout the monotropic stage.

Question 30

What is the ‘continuity hypothesis’?

Answer 30

People tend to base their parenting on their own experiences of being parented.

This explains why children form functional families tend to have successful families themselves