Monotropic theory Flashcards
What is monotropic theory
The belief that a child first attachment to a caregiver will be the strongest and is more important than any other(Bowlby referred to this person as the mother)
What is the law of continuity?
The more constant and predictable a child’s care is, the better the attachment
What is the law of accumulated separation
The effects of every separation from the mother add up
What are social releasers
Set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours- purpose is to attract adults attention and activate the attachment system so it a reciprocal process
What is the critical period
A time frame in which an attachment needs to form- Bowlby argues that if the attachment never forms, it was have irreversible consequences for the child
How long is the critical period
2 and a half years
What did Bowlby change this critical period to after people argued it was too deterministic
A sensitive period
What is the internal working model
A template for future relationships based upon the infant’s primary attachment
Acts as a blueprint and is used to form foundation for future relationships
Both romantic relationships and parenting
Strengths of Monotropic theory
Supporting research for evolutionary nature of Attachments- Harlow’s study supports monotropic theory as his Rhesus Monkey’s went on to be terrible parents and kill their offspring(supports the IWM) and Lorenz research demonstrated that animals have an innate tendency to respond and follow- suggests attachments are evolutionary- we are pre-programmed to develop them due to survival and safety
Supporting evidence for PCG- Ainsworth discovered that the Ganda tribe in Uganda still had one primary attachment figures even when raised by multiple caregivers and Fox discovered that in the Israeli Kibbutz- children spent only 3 hours a day with biological parents and still showed monotropic attachment to main PCG(universal behaviour)
Supporting evidence for IWM- Bailey et al- looked at 99 mothers and measured their attachment to their own child- they then looked at the mothers of the 99 mothers to see their attachment then looked at the attachment that the mother had on their baby. Mothers with poor attachment to their own mother had poor attachment with their babies. Suggests framework is passed down.
Supporting evidence for social releasers- Brazelton et al found that when Primary Attachment figures ignored babies the babies would become initially distressed but then would just lay on the floor motionless- suggests that social releasers have a purpose as when they failed to work, the babies stopped using them
Weaknesses of Monotropic theory
Contradictory research- Shaffer and Emerson discovered that there are different attachment types which suggests that the first attachment is strong and has a strong impact on future relationships but it is not necessarily stronger it might just be different
Contradictory research- Czech twins were locked up for 18 months. Therefore they had no attachment figure and did not form an attachment during their critical period. However, they were adopted by 2 sisters who they formed good attachments with and both twins went on to have families, children, good jobs and good attachments
Socially sensitive- Places pressure on mothers as it suggests that mothers must stay at home because if they don’t then their baby will not form a good attachment and will suffer later in life. This may lead to further economic implications as if women are all at home, less tax, less government spending into services such as NHS, and there will be no need for childcare so employment will fall
