Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s theory.
Spec says, ‘Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s monotropic theory. The
concepts of a critical period and an internal working model.
Key terms:
- Monotropic = a term sometimes used to describe Bowlby’s theory.
Mono means ‘one’ and tropic means ‘leaning towards’. This
indicates that one particular attachment is different from all the
others and of central importance to a child’s development.
- Critical period = the time within which an attachment must form if it
is to form at all. Bowlby extended the ideas noted by Lorenz and
Harlow about a critical period, proposing that human babies have a
sensitive period after which it will be much more difficult to form an
attachment.
- Internal working model = our mental representations of the world,
the representation we have of our relationship to our primary
attachment figure. This model affects what our future relationships
are like.
Bowlby’s monotropic theory.
- Bowlby rejected learning theory as an explanation for attachment
because, as he said, ‘were it true, an infant of a year or two should
take readily to who ever feeds him and this is clearly not the case’.
- Instead, Bowlby looked at the work done by Lorenz and Harlow for
ideas and proposed an evolutionary explanation, that attachment
was an innate system that gives a survival advantage.
o So attachment, like imprinting, evolved as a mechanism to
keep young animals safe by ensuring they stay close to adult
caregivers.
Monotropy.
- Bowlby’s theory is described as monotropic because he placed great
emphasis on a child’s attachment,ent to one particular caregiver.
- He beilved that the child’s attachment to this one caregiver is
different and more important than others. Bowlby called this person
the mother but it was clear that this person did not need to be the
biological mother.
- Bowlby believed that the more time the baby spent with the mother
figure (or primary attachment figure) as we usually call them now,
the better.
- He put forward two principles to clarify this:
o The law of continuity, stated that the more constant and
predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their
attachment.
o The law of accumulated separation, stated that the effects of
every separation from the mother adds up “and the safest
dose is therefore no dose”.
,Social releasers and the critical period.
- Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’
behaviours like smiling, cooing and gripping that encourage
attention from adults.
- He called these social releasers because their purpose is to activate
adult social interaction and so make an adult attach to the baby.
- Bowlby recognised that attachment was a reciprocal process, with
both mother and baby being ‘hard-wired’ to become attached.
- The interplay between baby and adult attachment systems
gradually builds the relationship between baby and caregiver,
beginning in the early weeks of life.
- Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around six months
when the infant attachment system is active.
- In fact Bowlby viewed this as more of a sensitive period.
o A child is maximally sensitive at six months and this extends
up to the age of 2.
o If an attachment is not formed in this time, a child will find it
much harder to form one later on.
Internal working model.
- Bowlby proposed that a child forms a mental representation of their
relationship with their primary attachment figure, which is called an
internal working model because it serves as a model for what
relationships are like.
- A child whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a
reliable caregiver will tend to form an expectation that all
relationships are as living and reliable, and they will bring these
qualities to future relationships.
- However, a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment
from others and/or treat others that way.
- Most importantly the internal working model affects the child’s later
ability to be a parent themselves.
o People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own
experiences of being parented and so this explains why
children form functional families tend to have similar families
themselves.
,Evaluation.
Validity of Monotropy challenged.
- One limitation of Bowlby’s theory is that the concept of monotropy
lacks validity.
- Schaffer and Emerson found that although most babies did attach to
one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple
attachments at the same time.
- Also, although the first attachment does appear to have a
particularly strong influence on later behaviour, this may simply
mean it is stronger and not necessarily different in quality from the
child’s other attachment.
o For example other attachments to family members provide all
the same key qualities such as emotional support.
- This means that Bowlby may be incorrect that there is a unique
quality and importance to the child’s primary attachment.
Support for social releasers.
- One strength for Bowlby’s theory is the evidence supporting the role
of social releasers.
- There is clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to
elicit interaction from caregivers.
- Brazelton et al observed babies trigger interactions with adults
using social releasers.
o The researchers then instructed the babies’ primary
attachment figures to ignore the babies social releasers.
These babies then became increasingly distresses and some
eventually curled up and lay motionless.
- This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development
and suggests that they are important in the process of attachment
development.
Support for the internal working model.
- A further strength of Bowlby’s theory is support for the internal
working model.
- The idea of the internal working model predicts that patterns of
attachment wil lbe passed from one generation to the next.
- Bailey et al assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and
their one year old babies.
o The researchers measured the mothers’ attachment to their
own primary attachment figures (ie their parents).
, o The researches also assessed their attachment quality to their
babies.
- This supports Bowlby’s idea that mothers’ ability to form
attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working
models (which in turn comes from their own early attachment
experiences).
HOWEVER.
- There are probably some other important influences on social
development.
- For example, some psychologists believe that genetic difference 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 in social behaviour and parenting at the
expense of other factors.
Feminist concerns.
- The laws of continuity and accumulated separation suggest that
mothers who work may negatively affect their child’s emotional
development.
Birman point out that this belief sets up mothers to take the blame for
anything that goes wrong for the child in the future. It also gives people
an excuse to restrict mothers’ activities, for example returning to work.
Spec says, ‘Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s monotropic theory. The
concepts of a critical period and an internal working model.
Key terms:
- Monotropic = a term sometimes used to describe Bowlby’s theory.
Mono means ‘one’ and tropic means ‘leaning towards’. This
indicates that one particular attachment is different from all the
others and of central importance to a child’s development.
- Critical period = the time within which an attachment must form if it
is to form at all. Bowlby extended the ideas noted by Lorenz and
Harlow about a critical period, proposing that human babies have a
sensitive period after which it will be much more difficult to form an
attachment.
- Internal working model = our mental representations of the world,
the representation we have of our relationship to our primary
attachment figure. This model affects what our future relationships
are like.
Bowlby’s monotropic theory.
- Bowlby rejected learning theory as an explanation for attachment
because, as he said, ‘were it true, an infant of a year or two should
take readily to who ever feeds him and this is clearly not the case’.
- Instead, Bowlby looked at the work done by Lorenz and Harlow for
ideas and proposed an evolutionary explanation, that attachment
was an innate system that gives a survival advantage.
o So attachment, like imprinting, evolved as a mechanism to
keep young animals safe by ensuring they stay close to adult
caregivers.
Monotropy.
- Bowlby’s theory is described as monotropic because he placed great
emphasis on a child’s attachment,ent to one particular caregiver.
- He beilved that the child’s attachment to this one caregiver is
different and more important than others. Bowlby called this person
the mother but it was clear that this person did not need to be the
biological mother.
- Bowlby believed that the more time the baby spent with the mother
figure (or primary attachment figure) as we usually call them now,
the better.
- He put forward two principles to clarify this:
o The law of continuity, stated that the more constant and
predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their
attachment.
o The law of accumulated separation, stated that the effects of
every separation from the mother adds up “and the safest
dose is therefore no dose”.
,Social releasers and the critical period.
- Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’
behaviours like smiling, cooing and gripping that encourage
attention from adults.
- He called these social releasers because their purpose is to activate
adult social interaction and so make an adult attach to the baby.
- Bowlby recognised that attachment was a reciprocal process, with
both mother and baby being ‘hard-wired’ to become attached.
- The interplay between baby and adult attachment systems
gradually builds the relationship between baby and caregiver,
beginning in the early weeks of life.
- Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around six months
when the infant attachment system is active.
- In fact Bowlby viewed this as more of a sensitive period.
o A child is maximally sensitive at six months and this extends
up to the age of 2.
o If an attachment is not formed in this time, a child will find it
much harder to form one later on.
Internal working model.
- Bowlby proposed that a child forms a mental representation of their
relationship with their primary attachment figure, which is called an
internal working model because it serves as a model for what
relationships are like.
- A child whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a
reliable caregiver will tend to form an expectation that all
relationships are as living and reliable, and they will bring these
qualities to future relationships.
- However, a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment
from others and/or treat others that way.
- Most importantly the internal working model affects the child’s later
ability to be a parent themselves.
o People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own
experiences of being parented and so this explains why
children form functional families tend to have similar families
themselves.
,Evaluation.
Validity of Monotropy challenged.
- One limitation of Bowlby’s theory is that the concept of monotropy
lacks validity.
- Schaffer and Emerson found that although most babies did attach to
one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple
attachments at the same time.
- Also, although the first attachment does appear to have a
particularly strong influence on later behaviour, this may simply
mean it is stronger and not necessarily different in quality from the
child’s other attachment.
o For example other attachments to family members provide all
the same key qualities such as emotional support.
- This means that Bowlby may be incorrect that there is a unique
quality and importance to the child’s primary attachment.
Support for social releasers.
- One strength for Bowlby’s theory is the evidence supporting the role
of social releasers.
- There is clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to
elicit interaction from caregivers.
- Brazelton et al observed babies trigger interactions with adults
using social releasers.
o The researchers then instructed the babies’ primary
attachment figures to ignore the babies social releasers.
These babies then became increasingly distresses and some
eventually curled up and lay motionless.
- This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development
and suggests that they are important in the process of attachment
development.
Support for the internal working model.
- A further strength of Bowlby’s theory is support for the internal
working model.
- The idea of the internal working model predicts that patterns of
attachment wil lbe passed from one generation to the next.
- Bailey et al assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and
their one year old babies.
o The researchers measured the mothers’ attachment to their
own primary attachment figures (ie their parents).
, o The researches also assessed their attachment quality to their
babies.
- This supports Bowlby’s idea that mothers’ ability to form
attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working
models (which in turn comes from their own early attachment
experiences).
HOWEVER.
- There are probably some other important influences on social
development.
- For example, some psychologists believe that genetic difference 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 in social behaviour and parenting at the
expense of other factors.
Feminist concerns.
- The laws of continuity and accumulated separation suggest that
mothers who work may negatively affect their child’s emotional
development.
Birman point out that this belief sets up mothers to take the blame for
anything that goes wrong for the child in the future. It also gives people
an excuse to restrict mothers’ activities, for example returning to work.
