Chapter 3.6 - Explanations of attachment: Bowlby's theory Flashcards
What is meant by monotropic?
Indicates that one particular attachment is different from all others and of central importance to a child’s development
What is meant by the critical period?
The time within which an attachment must for if it is to form at all
- After which it will be much more difficult to form an attachment
What is meant by the internal working model?
Mental representations on the world based on the relationship to our primary attachment figure
- Affects out future relationships because it carries our perception of what relationships are like
What does Bowlby’s theory say about attachment?
Attachment is innate and provides a survival advantage
What are the two principles of monotropy?
- The law of continuity
- The law of accumulated separation
What is meant by the law of continuity?
What is meant by the law of accumulated separation?
That the effects of every separation from the mother adds up and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose, no separation
What are social releasers?
Innate behaviours (e.g. crying, smiling) that elicit adult responses (e.g. caring)
How does the internal working model affect the child’s later ability to be a parent themselves?
- People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented
- This explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves
What is the sensitive period of children?
Six months to two years
What is a limitation of Bowlby’s theory? (validity of monotropy challenged)
Schaffer and Emerson 1964) found that although most babies did attach to one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time
- The first attachment is stronger but not different in quality from the child’s other attachments, provide all the same key qualities (emotional support, a safe base etc)
- Bowlby may be incorrect that there is a unique quality and importance to the child’s primary attachment
What is a strength of Bowlby’s theory? (support for social releasers)
- 1975 study has clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to elicit interaction from caregivers
- The researchers instructed the babies’ primary attachment figures to ignore their babies’ social releasers
- Babies became increasingly distressed and some eventually curled up and lay motionless
- Illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests that they are important in the process of attachment development
What is a strength of Bowlby’s theory? (support of internal working model)
- Bailey 2007 assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their one-year-old
- The researchers measured the mothers’ attachment to their own primary attachment figures
- The researchers also assessed the attachment quality of the babies
- Mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attachment babies
- Supports the idea that mothers’ ability to form attachment to their babies is influenced by their internal working models
What is a counterpoint of Bowlby’s theory?
- There are other important influences on social development
- Genetic differences in anxiety and sociability affect social behaviour in both babies and adults
- These differences could also impact on their parenting ability
- Bowlby may have overstated the importance of the IWM in social behaviour and parenting at the expense of other factors
What is another evaluation point? (feminist concerns) (real-world application)
- The laws of continuity and accumulated separation that mother who work may negatively affect their child’s emotional development
- This sets mothers up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in the future
- It also gives people an excuse to restrict mother’s activities, for example returning to work
- More keyworkers in day care who build an attachment with particular babies
