L6- Bowlbys Monotropic Theory

Question 1

Why do Attachments form according to Bowlbys monotropic theory?

Answer 1

• Fundamental principle of Bowlby’s theory= attachment between infants and their caregivers is an instinct that has evolved because it increases the chances of both the babies’ survival and the parents’ passing on their genes.
• It is therefore adaptive.
• Infants who are attached to their caregiver will stay close to them and so are well protected and will survive.
• Parents who are attached to their children will ensure they are well cared for and so survive, meaning that they will have successfully passed on their genes.

Question 2

How do attachments form according to Bowlbys Monotropic theory?

Answer 2

• Infant’s have innate drive to attach to an adult.
• Innate behaviours have critical period where they occur or never will > critical period for attachment is before 2years.
• Infant’s who dont form an attachment during this time will have difficulty forming attachments later on.
• Bowlby proposed attachment is determined by caregiver’s sensitivity > Strongly attached infants tend to have caregiver who is responsive, co-operative and more accessible
• Social releasers = important during critical period to ensure attachments develop between caregivers and their infants.
• E,g. smiling and crying- behaviours that elicit care giving
• Babies display them to encourage caregivers to look after them.
• Bowlby argued infants have one special emotional bond- monotropy. often with biological mother but not always.
• Infants also form secondary attachments that also provide important emotional safety net and vital for healthy psychological and social development.

Question 3

What are the consequences of attachment?

Answer 3

• The importance of monotropy= infant uses this relationship to form mental view of relationships called an internal working model.
• Secure relationships in childhood ensure positive working model and means that current (such as those with other children) and future (such as those with the individual’s own children) relationships will be positive and secure.

-continuity hypothesis proposes individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent > because secure childhood leads to a positive internal working model.

Question 4

Weaknesses of Bowlbys Monotropic Theory

Answer 4

Schaffer and Emerson (1964):

• suggest multiple attachments are more common in babies than monotropy.
• found by 18 months only 13% of infants had monotropy

Feminists pointed out idea of monotropy is socially sensitive:

• Places burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong in their child’s life.
• Puta pressure on mothers to stay at home and give up their careers.
• Bowlby underestimated role of the father – saw father’s role as primarily economic —> outdated sexist view, many families view both parents as equally responsible for childcare, and in many families the father is the primary caregiver.

Tizard and Hodges (1989):
-found children who never formed any attachments by 4, and were then adopted, could still form attachments to new adopted parents. —> goes against the idea of a critical period before 2, during which an attachment must form or it never will.

Unscientific:
-Impossible to test Bowlby’s argument that attachment has persisted in the same form throughout our evolutionary history

Kegan (1984):

• disagreed with Bowlby about quality of infant’s attachment being determined by the caregiver’s sensitivity.
• explained infant’s attachments to their caregivers in terms of their innate temperament.
• According to his theory some infants are better suited to forming attachments then others due to their innate characteristics. - Rovine (1987) found infants who had been judged to have signs of behavioural instability between 1-3 days old were later more likely to have an insecure attachment.