Explanations of attachments - Bowlby Flashcards
What did John Bowlby reject as an explanation for attachments?
Learning theory
Why did John Bowlby reject learning theory as an explanation for attachment?
âwere it true, an infant of a year or two should take readily to whomever feeds him and this is clearly not the caseâ
What did John Bowlby propose after looking at Lorenz and Harlowâs research?
An evolutionary explanation
What is the evolutionary theory of attachments?
attachments are innate and have evolved to aid survival. Infants who stuck close to their mother were more likely to survive and passed this trait on to their own children.
What characteristics did Bowlby propose that aid the formation of an attachment
- Monotropy
- Social releasers
- The critical period
- Internal working model (Continuity hypothesis and secure base)
Monotropy
Infants form a number of attachments and one of these has special importance and they are bias towards this individual (primary attachment figure). There are two principles to explain this. Bowlbyâs theory (1958, 1969)
What two principles explain monotropy?
The law of continuity, The law of accumulated separation
law of continuity
The more constant and predictable a childâs care, the better the quality of their attachment
Law of accumulated separation
the effects of every separation from the mother add up âand the safest dose is therefore a zero doseâ (1975)
What does the primary attachment figure provide
Main foundation for emotional development, self esteem and later relationships with peers, lovers and their own children
What else did Bowlby propose about attachments?
They are hierarchical in nature with primary attachments at the top and then the rest following and these are secondary attachments figures
Secondary attachment figures
Also important in emotional development and act as a safety net, contributing to social development
Social releasers
Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours like smiling that encourages the attention from an adult. This behaviour was a reciprocal process. Both babies and mothers have innate predisposition to become attached and social releasers trigger that response in caregivers.
What is the purpose of social releasers in attachments?
Their purpose is to activate the adult attachment system (make an adult feel love for a child).
Critical period
Because attachment is innate there is a limited window for development and this is the first 2 years of a childâs life.
What happens if an attachment isnât formed in the critical period?
If an attachment isnât formed in this window then it extremely difficult for the baby to form further attachments
Internal working model
a child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver and it has an effect on the childâs future relationships. It affects a childâs ability to be a parent themselves as people base their parenting on experiences
What is the Internal working model like of a childâs whose first attachment was loving and reliable?
They will expect all relationships to be like this and be loving and reliable back.
What is the Internal working model like of a childâs whose first attachment involved poor treatment?
They will expect poor treatment and treat others that way.
What is the short term consequence of the internal working model
Gives the child insight into the caregivers behaviour and enables the child to influence the caregivers behaviour so a true partnership is formed
What are the long term consequences of the internal working model?
acts as a template for all future relationships because it generates expectations about what intimate loving relationships are like
Secure base
parental presence that gives the infant/toddler a sense of safety as they explores their surroundings and help foster independence
Continuity hypothesis
the view that there is a link between the early attachment relationship and later emotional behaviour. individuals who are securely attached children have more social and emotional difficulties later in life
What are the strengths of Bowlbys theory of attachment
- Animal research support for imprinting and critical period
- Support for monotropy
- Support for social releasers
- Support for internal working model
- Support for continuity hypothesis
What is the animal research support for imprinting?
Research by Lorenz supporting the view that imprinting is innate and a similar process evolved in many species. For example baby birds imprint on the first moving object they see and babies imprint to their mother.
What is the animal research support for the critical period?
Lorenz found that if the baby didnât imprint in the critical period then they couldnât in the future. Bowlby found if an attachment between infant and caregiver wasnât formed in critical period it was difficult in the future
What is the support for monotropy?
Bowlby theory suggests attachments have evolved to aid survival and they should be universal. Tronick et al (1992) studied a tribe who were looked after and breastfed by other women but they still were primarily attached to their mother
What is the support for social releasers?
Brazelton et al (1975) observed mothers and babies during their interactions, reporting interactional synchrony. They then made it an experiment.
What was Brazelton et al (1975) experiment?
Primary attachment figures ignored their babiesâ signals (social releasers). Babies initially showed some distress but when the attachment figures continued to ignore, some responded curling up and lying motionless
What is the support for internal working model?
Internal working models is testable because it predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed on. Bailey et al (2007) Tested this.
How did Bailey et al. (2007) test the internal working model?
tested this on 99 mothers with 1 year old babies on their attachment to their mothers using an interview and observation. Mothers who reported poor attachment to their parents were more likely to have children classified as poor according to the observations.
What is support for the continuity hypothesis?
Minnesota longitudinal study with participants followed from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later social behaviour. Individuals who were classified as secure in infancy were rated the highest for social competence in later life.
What are the weaknesses of Bowlbyâs attachment?
- Counter evidence against monotropy and evidence for multiple attachments
- Idea that an attachment cannot be formed after the critical period has been challenged
- Idea that a poor first attachment relationship means the child will always have poor future relationships has been challenged
- Bowlby ignores role of the father making his theory outdated and sexist
- Temperament may be as important as attachment
What is the counter evidence against monotropy and evidence for multiple attachments?
Many psychologists argue that other attachment figures are actually as equally important. For example, attachments to fathers help children in their social development, attachments to siblings help children to have relationships with peers. Schaffer and Emerson (1964) and cross cultural research e.g. Tronicks study
How has the idea that an attachment cannot be formed after the critical period been challenged ?
Although children may find it harder to form an attachment after the critical period, it is possible. Tizard and Hodges
Tizard and Hodges
They found that 21/22 of children adopted aged 4 years went on to form a secure attachment with their adopted parents by the time they were 8 years old.
How has the idea that a poor first attachment relationship means that the child will always have poor future relationships been challenged?
Research has shown that individuals with difficult childhoods and insecure attachments can go on to develop positive and secure relationships in adulthood. This may be due to positive school experiences or strong adult attachments which lead them to develop feelings of security and trust later in life.
How does Bowlby ignores the role of the father?
Bowlby only sees the father as a secondary attachment figure if at all. In fact, the fatherâs role is seen as primarily economic. But fathers play an important nowadays in the upbringing of children - so his theory can be seen as sexist and outdated
How can temperament be as important as attachment?
A different tradition of child development emphasised the role of temperament in the development of social behaviour. Temperament is the childâs genetically influenced personality. Researchers suggest that some babies are more anxious or sociable than others depending on their genes. Kagan (1982)
Kagan (1982) temperament
argued that it was a babyâs temperament that influenced the caregiverâs sensitivity and that generally more happier babies encouraged more sensitive caregiving than more moody babies.
