7.1.1 - Bowlby

Question 1

6 Features of Bowlby’s theory of attachment

Answer 1

1. He believed that this attachment occurred instinctively and was necessary for the child’s survival
2. He thought that the first main attachment was different from any other
3. This strong relationship between one person should continue unbroken for the first 2 years of life, the critical period, if adverse effects are to be avoided
4. He suggested the maternal deprivation hypothesis where a broken attachment or lack of leads to problems for the child with relationships in adulthood. Bowlby believed such problems would be permanent and irreversible, leading to possible delinquency and affectionless psychopathy
5. Attachment provides a safe haven for when the child is afraid and a secure base from which they can explore the world
6. Separation anxiety serves to draw the attachment figure back to the infant and is a survival mechanism (evolutionary)

Question 2

4 AO1 on Monotropy/Safe Base

Answer 2

• Bowlby emphasized the importance of monotropy; the relationship between a child and a single primary caregiver
• He believed that this attachment occurred instinctively and was necessary for the child’s survival
• during first 6 months babies show proximity promoting behaviour eg crying to encourage the formation of a bond. they then show anxiety (separation to CG) around strangers and have preference for primary caregiver
• Bowlby suggested that if a child feels secure enough to show independent behaviour, they develop a positive internal working model of themselves as valued which he believed would be a blue print for the child’s future relationships

Question 3

x6 AO1 on MDH

Answer 3

• It is when an attachment is broken due to separation
• when seperated from attachment figure, child will seek them out for comfort and show distress and seperation anxiety (survival mechanism)
• Bowlby found that a child who suffers MD during critical period with have an IWM of themselves as unworthy
• MD can affect the child’s mental health, such as lack of guilt and affectionless psychopathy
• he believed MD leads to lower intelligence, delinquency and depression
• Harlow found that monkeys who had suffered MD were bad mothers and poor socialisers

Question 4

x2 AO1 Evolutionary Basis of Imprinting/Attachemnt

Answer 4

• Innate need to attach for survival - Bowlby drew knowledge from Lorenz and his findings about imprinting to suggest attachment has evolutionary advantage (maintain proximity to parent for survival)
• Bowlby used the idea of a critical period to describe how human infants attach within a sensitive period to a proximital caregiver -believed human infants had similar ‘attachment instinct’ - evolutionary theory ie survival of the fittest

Question 5

x3 AO3 Strengths of Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment

Answer 5

• Bowlbys theory of attachment has been very influential in academic circles and has had application to the real world. Eg hospitals now allow parents to stay with their child to prevent attachment deprivation. Therefore Bowlby’s work on the importance of attachment between a child and its primary caregiver has allowed less deprivation to occur due to caregivers being in hospital which otherwise could lead to adverse effects such as delinquency or affectionless psychopathy
• Bowlby’s own research on delinquent adolescents (44 thieves study, 1946) supports his maternal deprivation hypothesis. Results showed that young people who had experienced separation from their mothers were more likely to have problems later in life. Therefore MD caused by a loss of attachment during the critical period leads to lower intelligence and a high risk of delinquency and criminal behaviour which is important for parents to understand.
• Bowlbys theory was supported by lots of other evidence such as from Spitz and Goldfarb and Harlow’s monkeys and other theories such as Lorenz’s. He also commissioned and supervised the work of others eg Robinson’s observations of children in hospital. Therefore a strength of Bowlbys theory is the amount of evidence from many different sources which support his ideas, making the theory very reliable.

Question 6

x3 AO3 Weaknesses of Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment

Answer 6

• Bowlbys own study of 44 thieves can be criticised as Bowlby said he would have like to use a control group of children from a ‘normal’ school as the control group were still in the clinic for emotional disturbance. Therefore the results and conclusions about MD may not be very valid or able to be generalised to those who did not suffer emotional difficulties, and we can question the validity of his findings.
• Bowlby claimed that a single caregiver was the most important figure for a child. However this idea of monotropy has been criticised suggesting children have multiple attachments with caregivers other than the mother eg with the father, grandparents and siblings as suggested by Schaffer and Emerson. Therefore opponents of Bowlby would argue the quantity of care is significant and the quality of attachments and interaction are more important when a child forms attachments.
• Bowlby used many animal studies eg Harlow’s monkeys as evidence to support his theory. Animal studies findings may not be generalisable to humans as they have different drain structures and levels of cognitive processing. Therefore the consequences of MD suggested in these studies cannot support Bowlby’s theory as we have different emotional intelligence to animals so deprivation could impact a child or infant differently