Bowlby's theory Flashcards
What does Bowlby think about attachment ?
He suggests that attachment is biological
What does ASMIC stand for ?
Adaptive
Social Releasers
Monotropy
Internal working model
Critical period
What does Bowlby say about adaptive ?
- Bowlby’s evolutionary explanation
- says that forming attachments helps survival
- attachment gives infants adaptive advantage
What does Bowlby say about social releasers ?
- babies have social releasers
- unlocks an innate tendency in adults to care for infants
- activates the adult attachment theory
- e.g smiling laughing
What does Bowlby say about monotropy ?
- Mono = one special attachment
- this attachment is the most important and different
- He believed this was normally the mother
- The more time spent together the better the attachment
- Law of continuity = constant time with someone
- Law of accumulated separation = should be limited separation
What does Bowlby say about the internal working model ?
- first relationship forms a template for all later relationships
- all future relationships are based on the 1st attachment
What does Bowlby say about critical period ?
- says there is a critical period to form attachments
- says attachment behaviours occur in the first 2 years
- after 2 years it is even more complicated to form attachments
What is a strength of Brazelton’s study ?
- supporting study of social releasers
- reported the existence of interactional synchrony in observation
- mothers were instructed to ignore the babies responses
- babies showed severe distress
- significance of eliciting behaviour
What was Bailey’s study ?
- Supports Internal working model
- Assessed 99 mothers and 1 years old using infants and observation
- Mothers who reported a poor attachment with their own mother were likely to have been classified as having poor attachment with their child
What is a limitation of Bowlby’s theory ?
The concept of monotropy lacks validity
- This is due to Schaffer and Emerson’s research
- They found that although a baby formed an attachment with one parent to start with, they soon formed attachments with other close members
- Therefore although an attachment may be stronger, it doesn’t have a different quality
What are strengths for SIC of ASMIC ?
Social releasers = Isabella, interactional synchrony
Critical period = Lorenz, Geese
Internal Working model = Harlow, difunctional monkey’s