Attachment: Monotropic Theory

Question 1

Explain what The Monotropic Relationship is.

Answer 1

• Bowlby argued that human infants and their parents have an innate need to form a Monotropic relationship.
• Monotropic refers to a warm, loving relationship an infant has with one person.
• He said infants are born with a set of innate behaviours (sucking, clinging, crying and smiling) called social releasers.

Question 2

Explain Bowlby’s evolutionary explanation of Monotropy.

Answer 2

• Bowlby proposed an evolutionary explanation for an infants innate need and capacity to form and maintain a Monotropic relationship. He argued humans evolved in an environment where a close bond with a caregiver was a survival necessity, as infants without an attached caregiver would not survive.
• Natural Selection favoured humans born with both the need for a Monotropic relationship as well as the social releasing behaviours that maintain it.

Question 3

Explain The Critical Period.

Answer 3

• Bowlby suggested that the first two years of a child’s life represented a critical period, during which a child must form a Monotropic relationship.
• Bowlby argued these years were critical, as a child that failed to form a Monotropic relationship during this period would experience long term and irreversible consequences for their social, emotional and intellectual development.
• Bowlby argued the key factor in forming an attachment in the critical period was not food but emotional sensitivity. A caregiver who is emotionally sensitive will respond to their child’s social releasers.

Question 4

Explain The Internal Working Model.

Answer 4

• Bowlby proposed the internal working model to explain how disruption of the Monotropic relationship during the critical period would have long term consequences.
• An Internal Working Model is a child’s mental representation of their self worth and their expectations of how others will behave towards them.
• It’s formed in response to The child’s experience of emotionally sensitive care from their primary caregiver, especially during the critical period.
• Bowlby theorised that once formed, IMWs are relatively stable as individuals age. Consequently, the IWM and individual forms in childhood can have an effect on their later relationships.

Question 5

What research has challenged Bowlbys claim that the need to form a Monotropic relationship is innate?

Answer 5

Schaffers research into the stages of attachment revealed that whilst most infants formed a specific attachment before multiple attachment, a significant minority developed multiple attachments at the same time. This challenges Bowlbys theory as if Bowlby is right and the innate need to form a Monotropic is hardwired into us through evolution, then we would expect the need to form a Monotropic relationship would be universal. This would mean the infants in Schaffers sample should not have developed multiple attachments before forming a Monotropic relationship. However, there are methodological issues with
Schaffer’s research which undermine its challenge to Bowlby’s monotropic theory. For example,
Schaffer’s sample only included working class-women from Glasgow, so these findings may not
be representative.

Question 6

What research has there been which supports Bowlbys claim about the importance of the critical period in attachment?

Answer 6

Harlow found that infant rhesus monkeys raised in complete isolation always experience some level of social impairment. But for those who raised isolation for more than 90 days, the damage was irreversible. This therefore supports Bowlbys claim that infants must form a Monotropic relationship within a critical period. However, issues with generalising from Harlow’s research undermines its support for Bowlby’s monotropic theory. This is because Harlow’s findings relate to rhesus monkeys, so his conclusions on the existence of a critical period in monkeys may not generalise to humans. That said, rhesus monkeys are a species that share a close evolutionary heritage with humans, so generalising from their behaviour to humans may still be appropriate. Bowlby himself would later abandon the idea of a
critical period. Instead, he came to see the first 5 years of life as a ‘sensitive period’, meaning important for later development, but not as critical as he initially suggested. Arguably, then, Harlow’s research
provides support for the general claim about the importance of early attachment experiences, even if Bowlby’s specific claims about the first two years being a ‘critical’ period are wrong.

Question 7

What research support for Bowlby’s concept of the internal working model is there?

Answer 7

Bailey interviewed 99 mothers with one year old babies and found that mother who rated their own attachment to their mothers as good were more likely to have good quality attachment to their own babies. This finding can be explained using Bowlby’s concept of the internal working model. The mothers who rated their attachment as ‘good’ would be likely to have developed an internal working model in which they have high self-worth and positive expectations of others. This would then explain why they developed good quality attachments with their own children (as their positive internal working model would help them interact positively with their own children). However, there are reasons to be sceptical
of this study’s support for the internal working model, and therefore Bowlby’s monotropic theory. As this study relied on mothers assessing their own attachment experiences retrospectively, it may lack
validity as the participants may not be able to accurately recall what their early experiences of care were
like.