Attachment - Bowlby's monotropic theory

Question 1

What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 1

• Bowlby theorised that babies have an innate attachment drive to survive, as security equals survival
• Babies will stay close to one carer (Usually the mother) for safety
• Bowlby’s monotropic theory was based on Lorenz’s imprinting and Harlow’s contact comfort theories

Question 2

What does monotropy mean?

Answer 2

-Monotropy is a unique, strong attachment to a single care giver (Usually the mother)

Question 3

When is the critical/sensitive period that Bowlby stated attachment must happen in?

Answer 3

• Bowlby stated that attachment must happen in the first 2/3 years
• Failing to attach in this critical period results in long lasting negative social consequences
• This conclusion was made by Bowlby building on Lorenz’s work on the critical period for geese

Question 4

What is the internal working model?

Answer 4

• An internal working model is the child’s mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver
• This attachment to their primary caregiver acts as a blueprint for future relationships
• According to Freud and Harlow, the IWM is a guide on if people can be trusted and if relationships are loving

Question 5

How is attachment strengthened/weakened?

Answer 5

• The attachment is strong if the care is consistent
• Attachment is weakened if care is infrequent and if there are long separations between the primary caregiver and the infant

Question 6

How is a strong/weak attachment shown in infant behaviour?

Answer 6

• A strong attachment between an infant and a primary caregiver is shown by safe base behaviour (Using the Mum as a base to explore), stranger and separation anxiety
• A weaker attachment will cause the infant to display higher stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

Question 7

What are social releasers?

Answer 7

• Social releasers are signals that are instinctively used by babies to bring about a response from adults
• Some social releasers include: Crying, smiling, cooing and vocalisations
• Adults are biologically programmed to find these behaviours cute or distressing, causing them to give the baby attention

Question 8

What is a disadvantage of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 8

• Bowlby’s theory was based on Lorenz’s imprinting work with geese
• Lorenz’s studies on geese demonstrated the strength of attachment to a single care giver, this is explained evolutionally due to significant survival advantages
• The findings from animal studies, such as Lorenz’s work lack generalisability as behaviour in animals is not representative of behaviour in human infants

Question 9

What is a disadvantage of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 9

• Bowlby’s theory displays alpha bias as it exaggerates the differences between the role of the father and the mother as caregivers
• In Bowlby’s case this is suggesting that the mother is best suited to provide a monotropic relationship with infants
• This leads to potential issues for working mothers and single gender families

Question 10

What is a disadvantage of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 10

• Bowlby’s theory of the internal working model can be seen as deterministic
• This is a disadvantage as people like to think that they have full conscious control over their relationships, rather than them being determined by their attachment to their caregiver as a child
• The internal working model can lead to the continuity hypothesis, this is where adult relationships are predicted by the infant’s attachment due to the development of their IWM
• This can also put pressure on parents and caregivers as they will feel responsible for the infants future view of relationships

Question 11

What is a disadvantage of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 11

• Bowlby suggests that the fathers role is resource production rather than caregiving and that the mothers role is to be the primary caregiver
• This shows that the theory lacks temporal validity as the role of caregiving is more equal in homes
• It is more common that women work now so they are not around to be the primary caregiver, so it can fall to the dad to be the primary caregiver as well
• In addition the theory that there is one primary care giver could be inaccurate as families can share the role of the caregiver