Bowlby's Theory Of Attachment Flashcards
Outline Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment (AO1)
Infants have an innate drive to survive
Attachment between both babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection
Monotropy - First relationship the infant forms with the PCG
Childs relationship with primary caregiver forms internal working model - impacts future relationships
Babies seek proximity to carer for safety
Babies use social releasers such as crying / smiling to encourage caregiver response
Critical period for attachments to take place is around 2/3 years
Name of our main attachment?
Monotropy bond
Describe the Internal working model
From our monotropy bond, this relationship allows us to have a template on all our future relationships which we will form as we learn to trust and care for others.
Mental representation of relationship with PCG.
What happens if a child does not form a monotropy bond in first 2-3 years of life?
There will be serious damage to their social and emotional development
Strengths of Bowlby’s Monotropy Theory
Evidence to support the existence of the critical period comes from Lorenz - shows an innate drive to form an attachment
Social releasers seen as an example in Meltzoff and Moore.
Support for the idea of the internal working model - predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed from one generation to the next. Bailey et al studied 99 mothers, and found that those with poor attachments to their own parents were more likely to have one year olds poorly attached
Limitations of Bowlby’s Monotropy theory?
Learning theory proposes an alternate explanation that we learn our attachments through the environment
Schaffer and Emerson suggest multiple attachments are possible and we aren’t subject just to a monotropy bond
Some argue it is a sensitive period rather than a critical period as infants can form reasonable attachments outside of the timeframe Bowlby set.
