Attachment: Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment

Question 1

What are the 5 principles of Bowlby’s attachment theory?

Answer 1

• Attachment is Adaptive
• Monotropy
• Social Releasers
• Critical Period
• Internal Working Model

Question 2

Explain “Attachment is Adaptive”

Answer 2

• Bowlby proposed that an attachment was important for the survival of a child
• Human infants are born physically helpless, so they have evolved with an innate tendency to form an attachment - making attachment an adaptive behaviour that increases the chances of survival and reproduction
• Bowlby believed attachment is a reciprocal process: infant is innately programmed to attach to their caregiver and the caregiver is innately programmed to attach to the infant

Question 3

Explain “Monotropy”

Answer 3

• Bowlby’s theory described at monotropic because he placed emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver
• He believed human infants have an innate tendency to attach to one particular person which is usually the person who shows sensitivity in their responses to the infant
• He believed monotropy was essential for the healthy psychologiccal development of the child

Question 4

Explain “Social Releasers”

Answer 4

• Social releasers are social behaviours that create a caregiving reaction such as crying and smiling which are necessary for interaction to take place and for attachment to form with caregiver
• Infants become most strongly attached to the person who interacts best: the person who responds most sensitively to the infants social releasers

Question 5

Explain “Critical Period”

Answer 5

• Bowlby believed that attachment between an infant and it’s caregiver had to happen in the first 3 years of the child’s life, preferably the first year
• If children don’t form an attachment in that critical period, they would suffer negative psychological effects and struggle creating relationships in adulthood

Question 6

Explain “Internal Working Model”

Answer 6

• Attachment enables the infant to learn how to form healthy emotional relationships
• Internal Working Model: Idea that the first relationship provides a template for all future relationships which is a part of the continuity hypothesis
• The continuity hypothesis suggests that early patterns of attachment are related to how the child has future relationships as an adult