Bowlby - Attachment

Question 1

Which psychologists were involved in the evolutionary theory of attachment

Answer 1

1. Bowlby
2. Harlow
3. Lorenz

Question 2

What does the evolutionary theory of attachment suggest

Answer 2

• children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others because this will help them to survive

Question 3

What is meant by ‘social releaser’

Answer 3

the infant produces innate ‘social releaser’ behaviours eg; crying, smiling that stimulate innate caregiving responses from adults - the determinant of attachment is NOT food but care and responsiveness

Question 4

What did Bowlby suggest in terms of monotropy?

Answer 4

Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment (monotropy) and that the attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world

Question 5

What does the attachment relationship cause?

Answer 5

acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences

Question 6

What does the theory say about the ‘critical period’

Answer 6

there’s a critical period for forming an attachment which is circa. 0-5 years

Question 7

What happens if a child has not formed an attachment during 0-5 years?

Answer 7

the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences like reduced intelligence and increased aggression

Question 8

What is an internal working model according to Bowlby?

Answer 8

• a cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self and others = based on the relationship with a primary caregiver
• becomes a prototype for all future social relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate interactions with others

Question 9

Evaluation: Mixed evidence for monotropy

Answer 9

• Bowlby - “babies generally form one A to their primary caregiver, this A was special and different to later As”
• “Only after this A was established could a child form multiple attachments”
• ^this was NOT supported by Schaffer & Emerson (64)
• S & E - “most babies did attach to one person first BUT they also found that a significant minority appeared able to form multiple As simultaneously”
• UNCLEAR whether 1st A = unique
• Suess et al. - “studies of A to mother and father tend to show that A to the mother is more important in predicting later behaviour”
• BUT this could mean that A to the primary A figure is just stronger than other As, not that it’s different in QUALITY

Question 10

Evaluation: Support for social releasers

Answer 10

• Brazleton et al. observed mothers and babies during their interactions, reporting the existence of interactional synchrony
• then they (^) did an experiment: primary A figures = instructed to ignore their babies’ signals (ignore their social releasers)
• babies initially showed distress, when A figure continued to ignore baby some babies curled up and lay motionless
• ^ this supports Bowlby’s ideas of the significance of infant social behaviour in eliciting caregiving