Explanations of attachments - Bowlby

Question 1

What did John Bowlby reject as an explanation for attachments?

Answer 1

Learning theory

Question 2

Why did John Bowlby reject learning theory as an explanation for attachment?

Answer 2

‘were it true, an infant of a year or two should take readily to whomever feeds him and this is clearly not the case’

Question 3

What did John Bowlby propose after looking at Lorenz and Harlow’s research?

Answer 3

An evolutionary explanation

Question 4

What is the evolutionary theory of attachments?

Answer 4

attachments are innate and have evolved to aid survival. Infants who stuck close to their mother were more likely to survive and passed this trait on to their own children.

Question 5

What characteristics did Bowlby propose that aid the formation of an attachment

Answer 5

• Monotropy
• Social releasers
• The critical period
• Internal working model (Continuity hypothesis and secure base)

Question 6

Monotropy

Answer 6

Infants form a number of attachments and one of these has special importance and they are bias towards this individual (primary attachment figure). There are two principles to explain this. Bowlby’s theory (1958, 1969)

Question 7

What two principles explain monotropy?

Answer 7

The law of continuity, The law of accumulated separation

Question 8

law of continuity

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Law of accumulated separation

Answer 9

the effects of every separation from the mother add up ‘and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose’ (1975)

Question 10

What does the primary attachment figure provide

Answer 10

Main foundation for emotional development, self esteem and later relationships with peers, lovers and their own children

Question 11

What else did Bowlby propose about attachments?

Answer 11

They are hierarchical in nature with primary attachments at the top and then the rest following and these are secondary attachments figures

Question 12

Secondary attachment figures

Answer 12

Also important in emotional development and act as a safety net, contributing to social development

Question 13

Social releasers

Answer 13

Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours like smiling that encourages the attention from an adult. This behaviour was a reciprocal process. Both babies and mothers have innate predisposition to become attached and social releasers trigger that response in caregivers.

Question 14

What is the purpose of social releasers in attachments?

Answer 14

Their purpose is to activate the adult attachment system (make an adult feel love for a child).

Question 15

Critical period

Answer 15

Because attachment is innate there is a limited window for development and this is the first 2 years of a child’s life.

Question 16

What happens if an attachment isn’t formed in the critical period?

Answer 16

If an attachment isn’t formed in this window then it extremely difficult for the baby to form further attachments

Question 17

Internal working model

Answer 17

a child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver and it has an effect on the child’s future relationships. It affects a child’s ability to be a parent themselves as people base their parenting on experiences

Question 18

What is the Internal working model like of a child’s whose first attachment was loving and reliable?

Answer 18

They will expect all relationships to be like this and be loving and reliable back.

Question 19

What is the Internal working model like of a child’s whose first attachment involved poor treatment?

Answer 19

They will expect poor treatment and treat others that way.

Question 20

What is the short term consequence of the internal working model

Answer 20

Gives the child insight into the caregivers behaviour and enables the child to influence the caregivers behaviour so a true partnership is formed

Question 21

What are the long term consequences of the internal working model?

Answer 21

acts as a template for all future relationships because it generates expectations about what intimate loving relationships are like

Question 22

Secure base

Answer 22

parental presence that gives the infant/toddler a sense of safety as they explores their surroundings and help foster independence

Question 23

Continuity hypothesis

Answer 23

the view that there is a link between the early attachment relationship and later emotional behaviour. individuals who are securely attached children have more social and emotional difficulties later in life

Question 24

What are the strengths of Bowlbys theory of attachment

Answer 24

• Animal research support for imprinting and critical period
• Support for monotropy
• Support for social releasers
• Support for internal working model
• Support for continuity hypothesis

Question 25

What is the animal research support for imprinting?

Answer 25

Research by Lorenz supporting the view that imprinting is innate and a similar process evolved in many species. For example baby birds imprint on the first moving object they see and babies imprint to their mother.

Question 26

What is the animal research support for the critical period?

Answer 26

Lorenz found that if the baby didn't imprint in the critical period then they couldn't in the future. Bowlby found if an attachment between infant and caregiver wasn't formed in critical period it was difficult in the future

Question 27

What is the support for monotropy?

Answer 27

Bowlby theory suggests attachments have evolved to aid survival and they should be universal. Tronick et al (1992) studied a tribe who were looked after and breastfed by other women but they still were primarily attached to their mother

Question 28

What is the support for social releasers?

Answer 28

Brazelton et al (1975) observed mothers and babies during their interactions, reporting interactional synchrony. They then made it an experiment.

Question 29

What was Brazelton et al (1975) experiment?

Answer 29

Primary attachment figures ignored their babies' signals (social releasers). Babies initially showed some distress but when the attachment figures continued to ignore, some responded curling up and lying motionless

Question 30

What is the support for internal working model?

Answer 30

Internal working models is testable because it predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed on. Bailey et al (2007) Tested this.

Question 31

How did Bailey et al. (2007) test the internal working model?

Answer 31

tested this on 99 mothers with 1 year old babies on their attachment to their mothers using an interview and observation. Mothers who reported poor attachment to their parents were more likely to have children classified as poor according to the observations.

Question 32

What is support for the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 32

Minnesota longitudinal study with participants followed from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later social behaviour. Individuals who were classified as secure in infancy were rated the highest for social competence in later life.

Question 33

What are the weaknesses of Bowlby's attachment?

Answer 33

- Counter evidence against monotropy and evidence for multiple attachments - Idea that an attachment cannot be formed after the critical period has been challenged - Idea that a poor first attachment relationship means the child will always have poor future relationships has been challenged - Bowlby ignores role of the father making his theory outdated and sexist - Temperament may be as important as attachment

Question 34

What is the counter evidence against monotropy and evidence for multiple attachments?

Answer 34

Many psychologists argue that other attachment figures are actually as equally important. For example, attachments to fathers help children in their social development, attachments to siblings help children to have relationships with peers. Schaffer and Emerson (1964) and cross cultural research e.g. Tronicks study

Question 35

How has the idea that an attachment cannot be formed after the critical period been challenged ?

Answer 35

Although children may find it harder to form an attachment after the critical period, it is possible. Tizard and Hodges

Question 36

Tizard and Hodges

Answer 36

They found that 21/22 of children adopted aged 4 years went on to form a secure attachment with their adopted parents by the time they were 8 years old.

Question 37

How has the idea that a poor first attachment relationship means that the child will always have poor future relationships been challenged?

Answer 37

Research has shown that individuals with difficult childhoods and insecure attachments can go on to develop positive and secure relationships in adulthood. This may be due to positive school experiences or strong adult attachments which lead them to develop feelings of security and trust later in life.

Question 38

How does Bowlby ignores the role of the father?

Answer 38

Bowlby only sees the father as a secondary attachment figure if at all. In fact, the father's role is seen as primarily economic. But fathers play an important nowadays in the upbringing of children - so his theory can be seen as sexist and outdated

Question 39

How can temperament be as important as attachment?

Answer 39

A different tradition of child development emphasised the role of temperament in the development of social behaviour. Temperament is the child's genetically influenced personality. Researchers suggest that some babies are more anxious or sociable than others depending on their genes. Kagan (1982)

Question 40

Kagan (1982) temperament

Answer 40

argued that it was a baby's temperament that influenced the caregiver's sensitivity and that generally more happier babies encouraged more sensitive caregiving than more moody babies.