bowlbys monotropic theory

Question 1

why did bowlby reject learning theory

Answer 1

said an infant of a year or two should take readily to whoever feeds them and this is clearly not the case 1988

Question 2

bowlby looked at Lorenzs and Harlows work and concluded

Answer 2

an evoliutinary explanation that attatchemnt is an innate system that gave a survival advantage

Question 3

why’s is bowlbys theory proposed as montorpic

Answer 3

because he placed great emphasis on a Childs attatchment to one particular care giver which is different and important. proposed this as the mother or primary caregiver as he emphasised the need for time

Question 4

bowlbys two principles

Answer 4

the law of continuity stated that the more constant and predictable a child’s care the better the quality of their attachment
the law of accumlated separation stated the effects of every separation from their mother adds up and “ the safest dosed is therefore zero dose”

Question 5

social releasers

Answer 5

an innate set of “cute” behaviours
activate the adult attatchemnt system
ie make adult feel love towards the baby
a reciprocal proccess
baby mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached and social relaxers trigger a response in caregiver
interplay gradually builds in first few weeks

Question 6

critical period

Answer 6

around two years when the infant attatchment is active
bowlby viewed it more as a sensitive period
maximal sensitive at age of two
if not formed then will find it hard to form later

Question 7

internal working model

Answer 7

child forms a mental representation of their relationships with their primary caregiver
powerful effect on nurture of Childs later relationship
loving relaitonship = expectation
effects ability to later parent themselves , parents tend to bae parenting on IWM

Question 8

mixed evidence for monotropy
a limitation

Answer 8

bowlby believed that generally babies formed one attatchement to their primary care giver and it was special
only after this established the baby can form multiple attachments
- not supported by Schaffer end Emerson 1964
found most babies did form an attachment to one person at first , however found a significant minority who were able to form multiple attacthemnts at the same time
unclear wether their is something unique about attachment , study of attacthemnt to motherland father tend to show their attachment to their mother is more important in predicting later behaviour ie suess et al
however this could just mean that the attachment to the primary caregiver is just stronger out of all of them , not neccarcily different quality

Question 9

support for social releasers
a strength

Answer 9

clear evidence to show that cute infant behaviours are intended to initiate social interactions and that doing so is important to the baby
- brazelton et al 1975
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 infants signals , baby initially showed distress but when the primary caregiver continued the baby responded by curling up and lying motionless
the fact the child responded so strongly supports bowlbys idea about the significance of infant social behaviour in electing caregiving

Question 10

support for internal working model
a strength

Answer 10

testable because it predicted the pattern of attachment will be passed on from one generation to the next
- Bailey et al 2007
assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers using a standardised interview procedure . researchers also assed the attachment of the babies to their mothers by observation. found that the mothers who reported poor attachments to their own parent in the interviews new much more likely to have children classified as poor according to the observations
supports the idea that the IWM of attachment was being passed through families

Question 11

monotropy is a socially sensitive idea
a limitation

Answer 11

controversial issue because it has major implications for the lifestyle choices mothers make when their children are young
low of accumulated separation states that having substantial time apart from a primary attachment figure risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child in a range of ways later
- feminists like Erica burman 1994
pointed out that this place a terrible burden of repsonisbilty on mothers setting them up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong in the rest of the Childs life , pushes mothers into particular lifestyle choices ie not retuning to work
not bowlbys intention , bowlby saw it as boosting the status ion mothers emphasising the importance of their role

Question 12

temeprmanet
a limitation

Answer 12

bowlbys approach emphasises the role of attachment in the child’s developing social behaviour
however a different tradition of child development emphasised is the roel of the tmepermant
is the Childs genetically influenced personality
- Kagan 1982
some babies are more anxious the others and some more sociable them others as a result of their genetic makeup
these temperamental differences later explain their social behaviour rather then attachment experience
often accuse bowlby of over empohasing the importance of Childs early attachment and quality of attahcment