Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment Flashcards
State what Bowlby said about how attachment and infant survival.
Attachment is an innate mechanism used by infants to increase their chances of survival.
What is a monotropic attachment?
An attachment to one specific caregiver.
What does the law of continuity state?
The more predictable a child’s care, thee better the attachment quality.
What does the law of accumulated separation state?
States that the effects of every serperation from the mother add up and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose.
What are social releasers?
Give examples of them.
How do they lead to attachments?
An innate set of behaviours that make the baby appear as cute, such as smiling or crying, which encourage a caregiver to look after the child.
The caregiver feels obliged to look after the child, leading to an attachment forming.
When did Bowlby say the critical period in humans was at its most sensitive?
6 Months.
How long does the human critical period last overall?
0-2.5 Years
What will happen to the child if an attachment doesn’t form in the critical period?
The child will find it much harder to form an attachment later on.
What is the internal working model?
A mental representation of what a child’s relationship with their primary caregiver looks like.
If a child bases their internal working model of a loving relationship, how will this affect them in the future?
They will believe that all relationships encountered as an adult will be loving and caring.
If a child experiences neglect or abuse, how does this affect their internal working model and their future behaviours within relationships?
They may believe that all relationships are neglectful and abusive.
This may mean that they could go on to abuse their own partners and even their children.
Explain the strength of there being evidence for the internal working model.
Use evidence from Bailey who assessed ratings of attachments between mothers and their 1 year old babies, and then the mothers ratings of attachment to their own primary caregiver.
What did he find a relationship between?
Use the counterpoint that there may be other factors such as genetic differences, that affect the sociability of babies/adults.
Bailey assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their one-year-old babies. The researchers measured the mothers’ attachments with their own primary attachment figures. They found that mothers with poor attachments to their primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies. However, there might be other important influences on social development, such as genetic differences, which affect anxiety and sociability in babies and adults. The internal working model explains how mothers form attachments with their babies, however, Bowlby may have overstated its importance.
Explain the strength of Bowlby’s theory supporting the role of social releasers.
Use the example from Brazelton who discovered evidence to show that cute behaviours are designed to elicit interaction from caregivers.
What happened in his research when primary caregivers stopped responding to social releasers?
Brazelton found evidence showing that cute behaviours are designed to elicit interaction from caregivers. He observed babies triggering interactions with adults using social releasers. The researchers then instructed the babies primary attachment figures to ignore the babies’ social releasers. Babies who were previously responsive became increasingly distressed and some curled up and laid motionless. This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests they are important in the attachment process.
Explain the limitation of feminist concerns surrounding monotropic theory.
Use the example of the law of continuity, which may suggest that mothers who work are negatively affecting their child’s development.
The law of continuity and accumulated separation suggests that mothers who work may negatively affect their child’s development. Feminists have pointed out that this belief sets up mothers to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in the future. They also say that it restricts a mother’s activities (such as working). This suggests that Bowlby’s theory is unfair and may cause stereotypes towards women.
Explain the limitation that Bowlby’s monotropic theory lacks validity.
Use the example from Schaffer and Emerson who found that some babies formed multiple attachments.
Consider that although the first attachment usually has the most influence, it does not mean it is the strongest.
Schaffer and Emerson found that although most babies attach to the primary care giver first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time. Also, although the first attachment does appear to have a strong influence on later behaviour, this may simply mean that its stronger, not different in quality from the other attachments. For example, other attachments to family members provide all the same key qualities. This means that Bowlby may be incorrect that there is a unique quality and importance to the child’s primary attachment.
