ATTACHMENT - explanations of attachment Bowlby's theory

Question 1

Briefly explain Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 1

John Bowlby (1988) proposed an evolutionary explanation - that attachement was an innate system that gives a survival advantage.

Question 2

what does mono tropic mean?

Answer 2

Monotropy is the concept that infants have an innate capacity and drive to attach to one primary caregiver or attachment figure.

Question 3

why is Bowlby’s theory described to be monotropic?

Answer 3

• Bowlby emphasises a child’s attachment on to one particular caregiver
  -child attachment to this one caregiver is more important than others
• this important person is the ‘mother’ (not necessarily the biological mother)
• the more time the baby spends with this mother figure, the better.

Question 4

what two principles did Bowlby propose to clarify the more time spent with primary caregiver, the better the attachment?

Answer 4

Law of continuity
Law of accumulated separation

Question 5

what is the LAW OF CONTINUITY?

Answer 5

The more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their attachment.

Question 6

what is the LAW OF ACCUMULATED SEPARATION?

Answer 6

The effects of every separation from the mother add up ‘and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose’

Question 7

What are social releasers?

Answer 7

Set of innate behaviours (eg.smiling), that encourage attention from adults.
They activate adult social interaction and so make an adult attach to the baby.
Bowlby recognised that attachment is a reciprocal process - the interplay between the adult and baby attachment systems gradually builds the relationship.

Question 8

What is the critical period?

Answer 8

The time within which an attachment must form.
6months - 2 years is a human babies sensitive period to form an attachment

Question 9

what are the consequences if attachment is not formed within the critical period?

Answer 9

social, speaking, cognitive difficulties.

Question 10

what is the internal working model?

Answer 10

• a special schema for relationships
• all the child’s future adult relationships will be based on this
• if a child experiences poor treatment from their first relationship, they will tend to form further poor relationships.

Question 11

Give STRENGTHS of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 11

• evidence supporting the role of social releasers
  eg.Brazelton et al (1975) observed babies trigger interactions from their primary attachment figures. Their PAF were instructed to ignore their babies’ social releasers. As a result, the babies became increasingly distressed.
  This illustrates the importance of the role of social releasers in emotional development.
• support for internal working model
  eg. Bailey et al (2007) assessed the quality of attachment between 99 mothers and their babies. They also assessed the mothers’ attachment to their own primary caregivers. They found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figure is for most likely to have poorly attached babies.
  This supports the idea that the mothers’ attachment to their own babies is influenced by their internal working models.

Question 12

Give LIMITATIONS of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 12

• concept of monotropy lacks validity
  eg S+E (1964) found that a significant minority of babies formed multiple attachments at the same time.The child’s first attachment may simply be stronger, not different to other relationships. For example attachments to family members provide all the same key qualities.
  This means that Bowlby may be incorrect that there is a unique quality importance to the child’s primary attachment.
• other important influences on social development.
  eg. Genetic differences in anxiety and sociability affect social behaviour in both babies and adults. These differences could also impact on their parenting ability.
  This means that Bowlby may have overstated the importance of the internal working model.