Bowlby’s Theory Of Attachment

Question 1

Attachment is Adaptive

Answer 1

• Interested in the relationship between caregiver and a child.
• Proposed that attachment was important for the survival of a child.
• Infants are physically helpless at birth and have evolved with an innate tendency to form an attachment.
• Attachment is an adaptive behaviour that increases the likelihood of survival and reproduction.
• Attachment is a reciprocal process. Infant programmed to attach to their caregiver but this caregiver is also programmed to attach to the infant.

Question 2

Monotropy theory

Answer 2

• Bowlby placed emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver.
• Bowlby believed that human infants have an innate tendency to become attached to one particular person. Usually the person who responds most sensitively to the infant.
• Believed monotropy was essential for the healthy psychological development of the child.

Question 3

What are social releasers?

Answer 3

• Infants born with these.
• Social behaviours that create a caregiver reaction such as crying and smiling.
• Necessary to ensure that interaction takes place between the attachment figure and infant.
• Infants most strongly attached to person who interacts best - best sensitive responsiveness to social releasers.

Question 4

What is the critical period?

Answer 4

• Believed that the attachment between and infant and caregiver had to occur in at the least the first 3 years of life and preferred in 1st year of life.
• Said it was critical in the sense that if children did not form an attachment they would suffer negative psychological effects.

Question 5

What is the internal working model in attachment?

Answer 5

• Attachment enables infant to learn how to form healthy emotional relationships.
• Idea that first relationship provides a template for all future relationships. Part of the continuity hypothesis that suggests that early patterns of attachment are related to how child has future relationships as an adult.

Question 6

Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of attachment - attachment is adaptive and innate

Answer 6

• Imprinting supports the idea that attachment is adaptive and innate.
• Newborn animals appear to form a picture of their parent within hours of birth and this helps them to stick closely to this important source of protection and food. Lorenz believed that imprinting has evolutionary value for animals since the young animal that follows its mother is more likely to be safe from predators, to be fed and learn how to find food, increase chance of survival and natural selection.
• Strength - research shows clearly that infants have an innate drive ti attach to their primary caregiver.

Question 7

Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of attachment - support for internal working model

Answer 7

• Hazen and Shavers put a live quiz in a US newspaper collecting information from people about their early attachment experiences and their current romantic attitudes and experiences.
• Found that adult romantic love can be related back to an individuals attachment history. Secure attachment types had love experiences that were happy, friendly and trusting. Insecure types found relationships less easy were more likely to be divorced and felt that true love was rare.
• Strength - findings demonstrate that early attachment experiences affect adult behaviour.

Question 8

Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of attachment - real world implications

Answer 8

• Theory has brought change to public policies.
• Influenced many aspects of daily life like parenting programmes and day care programmes.
• Strength - Bowlby’s ideas have been useful and led to a better insight into the importance of primary attachments.

Question 9

Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory of attachment - support for social releasers

Answer 9

• Strong evidence to show that cute infant behaviours are intended to initiate social interaction and doing so is important to the baby.
• Brazleton et al observed mothers and babies during their interactions reporting the existence of interactional synchrony. Then extended the study from an observation to an experiment. Primary attachment figures were instructed to ignore their babies signals to ignore social releasers. Babies initially showed some distress but when attachment figures continued to ignore the baby some responded by curling up and lying motionless.
• Strength - fact that children responded so strongly supports Bowlby’s ideas about the significance of infant social behaviour in eliciting caregiving.