Attachment: Lesson 5 - Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

Question 1

Why do attachments form?(Bowlby’s theory)

Answer 1

• The fundamental principle of Bowlby’s theory is that attachment between infants and their caregivers is an instinct that has evolved because it increases the chances of both the babies’ survival and the parents’ passing on their genes
• It is therefore adaptive
• Infants who are attached to their caregiver will stay close to them and so are well protected and will survive
• Parents who are attached to their children will ensure they are well cared for and so survive, meaning that they will have successfully passed on their genes

Question 2

How do attachments form? (Bowlby’s theory)

Answer 2

• infants have an innate(biological programmed) drive to become attached to an adult
• Innate behaviours usually have a critical period in which they must occur or they never will
• The critical period for attachment is before a child is two years of age
• Infant’s who do not have an opportunity to form an attachment during this time will have difficulty forming attachments later on
• Bowlby proposed that attachment is determined by the caregiver’s sensitivity
• Infants who are the most strongly attached tend to have a caregiver who is responsive, co-operative and more accessible then less closely attached infants
• Social releasers are important during this time to ensure that attachments develop between caregivers and their infants
• Social releasers include smiling and crying, they are behaviours that elicit care giving
• Babies display them to encourage their caregivers to look after them
• Bowlby argued that infants will have one special emotional bond; he referred to this as monotropy
• This bond is often with the biological mother but not always. Infants also form secondary attachments that also provide an important emotional safety net and are vital for healthy psychological and social development

Question 3

What are the consequences of Attachment? (Bowlby’s theory)

Answer 3

• The importance of monotropy is that the infant uses this relationship to form a mental view of relationships called an internal working model
• Secure relationships in childhood ensure a positive working model and means that current (such as those with other children) and future (such as those with the individual’s own children) relationships will be positive and secure
• The continuity hypothesis proposes that individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent. This is because a secure childhood leads to a positive internal working model.

Question 4

Evaluation of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory (Schaffer and Emerson, multiple attachments) (-)

Answer 4

• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) suggest that multiple attachmentsare more common in babies than monotropy
• They found that by 18 months only 13% of the infants had only one person they were attached to

Question 5

Evaluation of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory (Erica Burman , monotropy is socially sensitive) (-)

Answer 5

• Feminists like Erica Burman have pointed out that the idea of monotropy is socially sensitive
• It places a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong in their child’s life
• It also puts pressure on mothers to stay at home and give up their careers. Bowlby also underestimated the role of the father – he saw father’s role as primarily economic
• This is an outdated sexist view, many families view both parents as equally responsiblefor childcare, and in many families the father is the primary caregiver.

Question 6

Evaluation of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory (Tizard and Hodges , adopted children) (-)

Answer 6

• Tizard and Hodges (1989) found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four, and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents
• This goes against the idea of a critical before hand two years of age during which an attachment must form or it never will

Question 7

Evaluation of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory (impossible to test) (-)

Answer 7

• It is impossible to test Bowlby’s argument that attachment has persisted in the same form throughout our evolutionary history, making it unscientific