Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory
Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment consists of seven key concepts:
- Evolutionary theory
-> survival value, evolved
-> instinctive nature
-> innately programmed
- Innately programmed
-> born with attachment
-> not learned from parent/infant
- Social releasers
-> instinctive behaviours that babies are born with (crying, cooing, smiling) -
releases primary caregiver’s desire to care
- Monotropy
-> single bond
-> form attachment with primary caregiver
- Critical period
-> 2 ½ years – attachment must occur within this
-> sensitive
-> otherwise can suffer irreversible consequences forming attachments
- Internal working model
-> 1st attachment
-> template, model of child, mental representations
- Continuity hypothesis
-> if strongly attached in infancy, will continue to be socially and emotionally
competent
Bowlby’s theory is an evolutionary theory because, in his view, attachment behaviour
has evolved because of its survival value and ultimately, its reproductive value. The
underlying basis of Bowlby’s theory was the innate or instinctive nature of attachment.
According to Bowlby, children are innately programmed to become attached to a
caregiver because attachment has long-term benefits. He argued that attachment
behaviours in both babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection to
ensure the baby survives to reach maturity and to reproduce.
He believed that babies are born with instinctive behaviours (called social releasers) such
as crying and smiling which release the primary caregiver’s desire/ability to provide
, care. Parents, especially mothers according to Bowlby, possess instincts designed to
protect their baby from harm and to nurture them to ensure survival to maturity. Those
babies and mothers who did not possess such behaviours have been less successful and
therefore their genes are no longer in the gene pool!
Bowlby believed that infants form a number of attachments but one of these has special
importance. The desire to form an attachment with one primary caregiver is called
monotropy (a single attachment to one person who is most important to the baby). Infants
also have other secondary attachment figures that form a hierarchy of attachments.
Bowlby believed that for every infant, one relationship is more important than the rest
and exists at the top of the hierarchy. Bowlby proposed his theory in the 1950s-60s and
at this time the primary caregiver was the biological mother. He therefore argued that the
one special attachment is most usually an infant’s mother. Bowlby believed that
sensitive responsiveness was the key – an infant becomes most strongly attached to the
person who responds most sensitively to the infant’s social releasers (the ‘sensitivity
hypothesis’).
Since attachment is innate, there is likely to be a limited window for its development, i.e. a
critical period. He believed there is a critical period for the formation of attachments,
whereby attachment behaviours between infant and carer must occur within a certain
time period if children are to form attachments (birth to approximately two and half
years). Bowlby thought that the process of attachment took place within a sensitive
period (a period of time in which something is likely to occur), during the first three years.
He saw mothering and attachment behaviours as useless for most children if delayed until
after twelve months and useless for all children if delayed until after two and a half to three
years. Bowlby claimed that if the attachment bond is broken or disrupted due to frequent
and/or prolonged maternal separations during the critical period, the child will suffer
irreversible long-term consequences because of this maternal deprivation.
Bowlby also argued that the first attachment between the baby and their caregiver
provided the child with an internal working model or template for their future
relationships. In the first attachment, the child is said to build up a model of themselves
as lovable or not, a model of the caregiver as trustworthy or not, and a model of the
relationship between the two. The internal working models are therefore the mental
representations that individuals carry with them of their attachment to their primary
caregiver. They are important in affecting our future relationships because they carry our
perception of what relationships are like. Bowlby argued that the internal working model,
begun in early childhood, influenced the child’s later relationships through to
adulthood.
Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment consists of seven key concepts:
- Evolutionary theory
-> survival value, evolved
-> instinctive nature
-> innately programmed
- Innately programmed
-> born with attachment
-> not learned from parent/infant
- Social releasers
-> instinctive behaviours that babies are born with (crying, cooing, smiling) -
releases primary caregiver’s desire to care
- Monotropy
-> single bond
-> form attachment with primary caregiver
- Critical period
-> 2 ½ years – attachment must occur within this
-> sensitive
-> otherwise can suffer irreversible consequences forming attachments
- Internal working model
-> 1st attachment
-> template, model of child, mental representations
- Continuity hypothesis
-> if strongly attached in infancy, will continue to be socially and emotionally
competent
Bowlby’s theory is an evolutionary theory because, in his view, attachment behaviour
has evolved because of its survival value and ultimately, its reproductive value. The
underlying basis of Bowlby’s theory was the innate or instinctive nature of attachment.
According to Bowlby, children are innately programmed to become attached to a
caregiver because attachment has long-term benefits. He argued that attachment
behaviours in both babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection to
ensure the baby survives to reach maturity and to reproduce.
He believed that babies are born with instinctive behaviours (called social releasers) such
as crying and smiling which release the primary caregiver’s desire/ability to provide
, care. Parents, especially mothers according to Bowlby, possess instincts designed to
protect their baby from harm and to nurture them to ensure survival to maturity. Those
babies and mothers who did not possess such behaviours have been less successful and
therefore their genes are no longer in the gene pool!
Bowlby believed that infants form a number of attachments but one of these has special
importance. The desire to form an attachment with one primary caregiver is called
monotropy (a single attachment to one person who is most important to the baby). Infants
also have other secondary attachment figures that form a hierarchy of attachments.
Bowlby believed that for every infant, one relationship is more important than the rest
and exists at the top of the hierarchy. Bowlby proposed his theory in the 1950s-60s and
at this time the primary caregiver was the biological mother. He therefore argued that the
one special attachment is most usually an infant’s mother. Bowlby believed that
sensitive responsiveness was the key – an infant becomes most strongly attached to the
person who responds most sensitively to the infant’s social releasers (the ‘sensitivity
hypothesis’).
Since attachment is innate, there is likely to be a limited window for its development, i.e. a
critical period. He believed there is a critical period for the formation of attachments,
whereby attachment behaviours between infant and carer must occur within a certain
time period if children are to form attachments (birth to approximately two and half
years). Bowlby thought that the process of attachment took place within a sensitive
period (a period of time in which something is likely to occur), during the first three years.
He saw mothering and attachment behaviours as useless for most children if delayed until
after twelve months and useless for all children if delayed until after two and a half to three
years. Bowlby claimed that if the attachment bond is broken or disrupted due to frequent
and/or prolonged maternal separations during the critical period, the child will suffer
irreversible long-term consequences because of this maternal deprivation.
Bowlby also argued that the first attachment between the baby and their caregiver
provided the child with an internal working model or template for their future
relationships. In the first attachment, the child is said to build up a model of themselves
as lovable or not, a model of the caregiver as trustworthy or not, and a model of the
relationship between the two. The internal working models are therefore the mental
representations that individuals carry with them of their attachment to their primary
caregiver. They are important in affecting our future relationships because they carry our
perception of what relationships are like. Bowlby argued that the internal working model,
begun in early childhood, influenced the child’s later relationships through to
adulthood.
