Bowlbys Monotropic Theory Of Attatchment Flashcards
What is meant by innate and adaptive?
Bowlby proposed an evolutionary explanation of attachment as he believed that attachment is an innate (born with it) and adaptive process for both infant and parent. It aids the survival of the infant by ensuring its safety, as the infant will stay close to the attachment figure who will feed and protect them.
What is meant by the critical period ?
Bowlby saw the first two years of life as a critical period for the development of attachment. A child is maximally sensitive at six months, and this extends up to the age of two. If an attachment is not formed during this time, then a child will find it harder to form one later.
What is meant by social releasers?
Babies are born with particular features that trigger caregiving behaviours from their caregivers for example smiling and crying. These are known as social releasers and explain how the baby becomes attached. They help to form the reciprocal bond between caregiver and infant and are necessary in the interaction between infant and caregiver. Infants become most strongly attached to the person who responds most sensitively to the infant’s social releasers.
What is meant by monotropy
Bowlby believed that human infants have an innate tendency to become attached to one particular person (known as monotropy). This attachment is different and more important than other attachments. Bowlby believed that the more time spent with this mother figure – or primary attachment figure the better. He explained this using the law of accumulated separation which means the effects of separation from the mother adds up and can have a negative effect on the development of attachment. “
What is meant by internal working model?
Bowlby suggested that a child having their first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation of this relationship. From this the infant will construct their internal working model which consists of rules and expectations concerning their relationships and attachments with other people as well as their own success as a parent. This internal working model acts as a template for future relationships. He put forward the law of continuity which suggested that attachments formed in the critical period will influence relationships later in life. This means individuals who are strongly attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent in adulthood whereas those who are not strongly attached will have more difficulties with relationships into adulthood.
What is the supportive evidence for adaptive and innate
studies into imprinting which demonstrate that attachment is adaptive and innate. Newborn animals such as goslings appear to form a picture of their parent(s) within hours of birth and this helps them 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 to learn how to find food, i.e. to increase their chances of survival and natural selection. However, care must be taken when extrapolating from goslings to humans – imprinting (following behaviour) may not be an appropriate model for the development of attachment (human emotion).
What are the ethical issues of BMT
socially sensitive issue because it has major implications for the lifestyle choices mothers make when their children are young. The law of accumulated separation states that having substantial time apart from a primary attachment figure increases the risk of a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child in a range of ways later. It therefore pushes mothers into particular lifestyle choices with economic implications, such as not returning back to work when a child is born or whether to place the child in a daycare setting. Burman (1994) has pointed out that this places a burden of responsibility on mothers and is therefore a controversial topic in individualistic cultures. Additionally, Bowlby underestimated the role of the father and saw the father’s role as primarily economic, which is now seen as an outdated and sexist viewpoint.
To support this, Cohn (2014) showed that the number of fathers who stay at home and care for their children has quadrupled over the past 25 years, illustrating how the father can also be the primary caregiver and questions whether Bowlby’s monotropic theory can be generalised to other social and historical contexts.
Supporting evidence for internal working model.
Hazan and Shavers found that adult romantic love can be related back to an individual’s attachment history. Secure attachment types had love experiences that were happy, friendly, trusting. Insecure types found relationships less easy, were more likely to be divorced and felt that true love was rare. In addition, Simpson et al’s (2007) found that participants who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children, closer to their friends at age 16 and were more expressive and were emotionally attached to their romantic partners in early adulthood. This supports the view that attachment type does predict future childhood and adult relationships.
Are multiple attachments as important as monotropy ?
contradictory research into multiple attachments has suggested that all attachment figures are equally important (Rutter). This questions whether there is the need for a special relationship with one central person above others in the hierarchy of attachments. Thomas (1998) suggests the tendency to form a single main attachment is not good for healthy psychological development and that it may be more desirable to have a variety of different attachments that meet the growing needs of the infants. Thomas found in Caribbean and European cultures children developed many equally important attachments. This suggests there is mixed evidence for monotropy as a hierarchical attachment weakening the validity of Bowlby’s explanation.
What is the support for critical period?
Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needed to have taken place. If imprinting did not occur within this critical period, Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure. Like Lorenz, Harlow also found a critical period, he believed if a mother figure was not introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days, attachment was impossible. This suggests there is a ‘window of opportunity’ (critical period) in which attachments must be formed otherwise this may lead to long-term negative consequences. In addition, Rutter’s findings suggest that children can recover from institutionalisation if they are removal from institutional care before 6 months. This offers further support for Bowlby’s belief that if an attachment is not formed within a critical period, a child will find it much harder to form one later.
