expl of att: Bowlby monotropic

Question 1

Why attachment forms

Answer 1

Bowlby’s suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.

Question 2

How attachment forms points

Answer 2

Critical period
Social releasers
Monotropy

Question 3

Critical period

Answer 3

The critical period of 6 months suggests that an infant has to form an attachment within the 6 months, or they won’t be able to form one at all, this will cause damage to attachment and issues down the line.

Question 4

Social releasers

Answer 4

A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits caregiving and leads to attachment

eg smiling, babyface

Question 5

Monotopy

Answer 5

The idea that the one relationship that the infant has with his/her primary attachment figure is of special significance in emotional development

Question 6

Consequences of attachment

Answer 6

Internal working model= a mental model of the world which enables individuals to predict and control their environment.

The IWM suggests the infants have a mental representation of their relationship with their caregiver, which creates the idea of what a relationship should look like to them and bases off this in future relationships.

Question 7

The evolutionary perspective

Answer 7

During the evolution of the human species, it would have been the babies who stayed close to their mothers that would have survived to have children of their own. Bowlby hypothesized that both infants and mothers had evolved a biological need to stay in contact with each other.

Question 8

AO3

Answer 8

lim: sensitive period
str: animal studies
str: social releasers
lim: multiple attachments

Question 9

lim: sensitive period

Answer 9

Acc to bowlby it shouldnt be possible to form attachments oustide of cp

Rutter (romanian orphans) : it is less likely that attachments will form after this period, but not impossible

Developmental window: children are maximally receptive to formation of certain behaviour but developments can take place after this window

Sensitive period> critical period

Question 10

str: animal study

Answer 10

Studies supporting Bowlby’s monotropic theory include animal studies

Lorenz found that gosling geese formed attachments to the first moving thing that they saw after hatching, which suggests that attachment is an innate process

This supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment has developed as an evolutionary process to aid survival

Question 11

str: social releasers

Answer 11

There is evidence to support the idea of social releasers
Caregivers were instructed to ignore their baby’s social releases whereby the babies then became increasingly distressed

This suggests that babies use social releasers as a way to elicit attention and attachment to their caregiver

These findings support Bowlby’s theory of social releasers and their importance in forming an attachment to a caregiver

Question 12

lim: multiple attachments

Answer 12

Research suggests that babies form multiple attachments rather than one attachment
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) propose that children form multiple strong attachments to a variety of caregivers from the age of 10- 11 months
This suggests that Bowlby’s monotropic theory is incorrect