A: Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Question 1

Whose work did Bowlby base his evolutionary explanation of attachment off of?

Answer 1

Lorenz and Harlow

Question 2

What did Bowlby propose?

Answer 2

•attachment is an innate and adaptive, biologically programmed system babies have programmed into them from birth to help survive

Question 3

Features of Bowlby’s theory

Answer 3

Proximity- babies seem proximity to mother for safety to protect them from hazards (like wild animals years ago). Security and secure attachment = survival

Monotropy- infants have one special emotional bond. This relationship was more important that other and more time spent with them the better.

Internal working model- this special relationship forms mental representation of what relationships are like

Question 4

Continuity hypothesis

Answer 4

• early experiences with caregivers, such as secure or insecure attachment, influence how individuals form and maintain relationships throughout their lives
• suggests that early attachment styles can create internal working models (IWMs) that shape future relationship expectations and behaviors

Question 5

Examples of social releasers

Answer 5

baby faces/cuteness
crying
smiling
clinging

(Elicit caregiving from parent)

Question 6

AO3: monotropic theory

Answer 6

Support- Harlow monkey study
-monkey instinctively sought to be close to one specific mother monkey (cloth one)
-supports IWM as monkey didn’t from adequate attachments and so didn’t from relationships as an infant

Question 7

AO3: Lorenz

Answer 7

Lorenz (1935) found that goslings formed attachments to the first moving thing that they saw after hatching, which suggests that attachment is an innate process
This supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment has developed as an evolutionary process to aid survival

Question 8

A03: social releasers

Answer 8

-Caregivers were instructed to ignore their baby’s social releases whereby the babies then became increasingly distressed
-This suggests that babies use social releasers as a way to elicit attention and attachment to their caregiver
-These findings support Bowlby’s theory of social releasers and their importance in forming an attachment to a caregiver

Question 9

AO3 limitation: Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 9

-Schaffer and Emerson (1964) propose that children form multiple strong attachments to a variety of caregivers from the age of 10- 11 months
-suggests that Bowlby’s monotropic theory is incorrect