Bowlby's theory of attachment Flashcards
What’s monotropy?
Bowlby’s theory is described as being monotropic- places the emphasis on a child’s attachment to ONE particular caregiver.
One attachment is more important to the child than the others.
Bowlby stated this was the “mother” but this didn’t necessarily need to be the biological mother.
The more the child spent with the “mother” or primary caregiver the better.
What’s the law of continuity?
The law of continuity, the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better their quality of attachment.
The laws of accumulated separation, the effects of every separation from the mother add up. ‘the safest dose is therefore a zero dose.
What’s are social releasers?
Bowlby believed that babies are born with a set of innate “cue” behaviours e.g. cooing, smiling, gripping.
These behaviours all encourage attention from caregivers.
These are known as social releasers.
By displaying these behaviours the process of attachment can begin.
What’s the critical period?
This is the time within an attachment must form.
Both Harlow & Lorenz identified critical periods for animals, Bowlby identified this in humans- also known as the “sensitive period”
In the first two years of life, forming attachments is essential for humans.
After this critical period has passed, the baby will have difficulty forming attachments in later life.
What’s the internal working model?
Children form a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver.
It provides a model for all future relationships.
If the child forms a positive first internal representation (e.g. loving/reliable) then the child will form a similar expectation for all future relationships.
If the child forms a negative first internal representations (e.g. unloving/neglected) then this will form their expectations of all future relationships.
Impacts on the child’s ability to be parents themselves at a later date.
What are the strengths of Bowlby’s theory?
Evidence for these internal models in predicting future patterns of relationships. Studies have found that mothers who reported poor childhood relationships were much more likely to have poor relationships with their own children. This supports internal working models because it suggests that these internal working models of attachment are passed through generations.
Support for social releasers. There is clear evidence that babies show cue behaviours such as smiling/grabbing. Research from interactional synchrony e.g. Meltzoff & Moore supported this. The babies in this study copied the facial changes in the researcher. This is a strength because it improves the validity of Bowlby’s theory as it argued that doing this the child is eliciting attention from caregiver and displaying this type of behaviour is an example of a social releaser.
What are the limitations of Bowlby’s theory?
Considered a controversial idea that could have real life implications for mothers and the choices they make for their children. The idea that the child has one attachment that is crucial to development places additional strain on a mother. Bowlby argued that separation from the caregiver e.g. the mother could negatively affect the quality of the attachment.
Disliked by feminists as it suggests that if anything goes wrong in the child’s ability to form attachment it is in fact the mother to blame.
Reductionist. Bowlby believed that attachments influenced a child’s social development. However ignores the child’s temperament or personality. Both of which might be other factors that influence future relationships rather than solely attachment. E.g. some children might have better attachments in later life simply because they are more outgoing and sociable (Kagan, 1982). This is a limitation as the theory suggests that social development is influenced by attachments and doesn’t consider other factors such as a child’s personality, psychologists have suggested that Bowlby over emphasised the importance of a child’s early experiences and the quality of their attachment. This therefore (link to the theory)
