Attachment - Explanations Of Attachment: Bowlby’s Theory Flashcards
Why did Bowlby suggest attachment is adaptive?
Looked at the work of Lorenz & Harlow and suggested attachment is an innate system that provides a survival advantage as imprinting & attachment evolved so young animals stayed close to their caregivers so they were protected from harm (used to be wild animals, in modern day this is traffic etc)
What is monotropy & why is Bowlby’s theory explained as monotropic?
Monotropy -> the inborn tendency to attach to one main caregiver (usually the mother) and that the child’s attachment to this one caregiver was different & more important than others
Bowlby’s theory is described this way as he placed great emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver (usually the mother) and that the more time spent with this mother figure (primary attachment figure) the better
What were the 2 principles Bowlby presented related to monotropy?
The law of continuity
The law of accumulated separation
What is the law of continuity?
The more constant & predictable the child’s care was, the better the quality of attachment
What is the law of accumulated separation?
The effects of every separation from the mother add up and ‘the safest dose is therefore a 0 dose’
What are social releasers and how did Bowlby suggest they encourage attachment?
Social releasers - a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours e.g. smiling/cooing, that encourage attention from adults and activate the adult attachment system so adults love them. This encourages attachment as both the mother & the baby have an innate predisposition to become attached (its a reciprocal process)
What was the critical period for babies to become attached to there caregivers, suggested by Bowlby & what are the consequences of a baby not forming an attachment in this time?
The critical period for a baby is 2.5 years when the infant attachment system is active & if an attachment isnt formed in this time then the child will have a much harder time forming one in the future.
What is an internal working model & how does this affect future relationships for the child?
Internal working model - a schema of a child’s relationship with their primary caregiver
If a child has a 1st experience of a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver than their expectation is that all relationships are loving & reliable and they will bring these qualities to future relationship (if it is the opposite, then the opposite occurs)
What is the continuity hypothesis & how does it relate to the internal working model?
A child’s internal working model has an effect on them being a parent themselves, as people tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented (explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves)
What are some strengths of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment?
Adaptive - Lorenz’s research on geese supports attachment is an innate process, however it isnt generalisable to humans
Social releasers - Brazelton et al -> research strongly support the significance of social releasers, when the babies social releasers were ignored by parents they responded with distress, curling up in a ball & lying motionless
Critical period - Lorenz & Harlow’s animal studies research supports the fact of a critical attachment period (Harlow - 90 days, Lorenz - couple of hours), however it cant be generalised to humans
Internal working model - Bailey et al -> study on mother’s attachments with their own parents proved the internal working model (those with poor attachments with their mothers were more likely to have poor attachments with their own children)
What are some limitations of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment?
Monotropy - Schaffer & Emerson -> although 65% of babies studied did form a primary attachment to one caregiver, 30% formed multiple (disproves monotropy)
Monotropy is socially sensitive -> Burman pointed out this places a terrible burden of responsibility of mothers & pushes them into particular lifestyle choices e.g. not returning to work (through the law of of accumulated separation)
