Attachment - Bowlby's theory

Question 1

what is bowlby’s theory

Answer 1

• 1988 rejected learning theory
• proposed an evolutionary explanation
• attachment was an innate system that gives survival advantages

Question 2

what is monotrophy

Answer 2

• child’s attachment to one particular caregiver
• this attachment was different and the most important
• called the figure a ‘mother’ but it didn’t need to be the biological mother or a female

Question 3

why did Bowlby believe that the more time we spent with our primary attachment figure is better

Answer 3

Law of continuity
- the more constant and predictable a child’s care the better the quality of their attachment

Law of accumulated separation
- effects of every separation from the mother add up

Question 4

what are social releasers

Answer 4

• babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours - smiling, cooing, gripping
• activate social interaction and an adult attaches to the baby
• attachment is a reciprocal process
• baby and mother are hard-wired to attach

Question 5

what did Bowlby identify as the critical period

Answer 5

• 6 months
• more of a sensitive period than a critical one
• maximally sensitive at 6 months and can extend up to 2 years

Question 6

what is the internal working model

Answer 6

• mental representations of the world
• affects our future relationships because it carries our perception of what relationships are like

Question 7

what are the strengths of Bowlby’s theory

Answer 7

Bailey (2017) - supports internal working model
- assessed attachment in 99 mothers and 1 year old babies
- measured the mothers’ attachment to their own primary attachment figures
- assessed attachment quality with babies
- mothers with poor attachment figures more likely to have poorly attached babies

Brazelton (1975) - supports social releasers
- observed babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers
- researchers told babies’ primary attachment figures to ignore the social releasers
- babies became more distressed, curled up and lay motionless
- social releasers have an important role in attachment development

Question 8

What are the limitations of Bowlby’s theory -

Answer 8

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) challenge monotropy
- significant minority formed multiple attachments at once
- first attachment has an influence in later life - it may mean its stronger but not different