Bowlby: Monotropic theory A Snap Chat Makes Creative Images
Adaptive: attachment gives our species adaptive advantage to survive.
Social releasers: unlock an innate tendency in adults to care for them.
Support: Brazelton: Observed mothers and babies during interactions and reported levels of interactional synchrony.
Extended observation to experiment: mothers ignored babies signals which causes them to be distressed. After
continued ignorance, babies responded by curling up into a ball and lying motionless.
Evaluation: Ethical concerns: psychological harm and permanent damage to child’s development in future (IWM)
Continuity Hypothesis: consistency between early experiences and later relationships.
Law of continuity: more consistent care means better quality of attachment
Law of accumulate separation: effects of every separation adds up.
Monotropy: during critical period children form special attachment with mum (secondary attachment = unnecessary)
Critical period: Until 2 years where attachments can be formed. After this no attachments can be formed.
Internal working model: mental representation of an infant's future relationships in attachment
Support: Bailey: Interviewed 99 mothers with 1 year old children on quality of attachment. Mothers who reported poor
attachment to their own mothers were more likely to have poor attachment with their child.
Evaluation:
● One weakness for Bowlby’s theory is that it doesn't take into account other cultures. Van Ijzendoorn found
multiple attachment was social norms in other countries. Lacks PV because only taking into account some
countries and cannot generalise infants of whole population lacking cultural relativism. secondary attachment
(fathers) also important. Seen as playmates and encourage physical activity/ problem solving. Lack of
sensitivity from fathers may be positive as it encourages this behaviour while mother's role is nurturing and
emotionally developing them in a holistic way. Explains why having multiple attachments is important as it
develops cognition and emotions, theory incomplete.
● Socially sensitive as the idea may have major implications on choices for mothers. If primary attachment is
this important the mother may feel like she has to be clingy to her child before 2 years old. Burnman stated it
places terrible burden on mothers as they may blame themselves if anything bad happens to child. Theory
may psychologically harm mothers because they may feel they have to work less and spend more time with
their baby, causing financial problems and stress to occur and concerning the theory as a whole.
● Research Support for innate drives being the reason for forming attachments. For example, Lorenz’ study
‘imprinting’ with geese demonstrated how geese separated from natural mothers would imprint and form
attachment towards him or any moving object they first exposed to. Support: possibly even humans forming
attachments as similar behaviour is seen across other species in which we adapt types of attachments to
survive through use of social releasers too. However evidence suggests imprinting isn’t permanent as
expected and simply a learned response. Guiton later found chickens who had imprinted themselves to yellow
rubber gloves and tried to mate with them would later begin mating with other chickens provided they spent
enough time with them. Suggests imprinting may have a learned element too and it may not be completely
biological in nature decreasing its internal validity when explaining the formation of attachment.
Learning theory: Dollard and Miller (1950)
All behaviours learned rather than innate. Infants emotional bond and dependence on the caregiver cna be explained
in terms of reinforcement either through classical/ operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning: Learn through association
Associate 2 stimuli together, eventually respond to 1 in same way. Before attachment learned: baby gains pleasure
through being fed. Food = unconditioned stimuli. Pleasure = unconditioned response. When being fed,infant
associates person providing food with food. Mother = neutral stimuli. Through repeated pairings after attachment is
learned baby associates primary caregivers presence to response of pleasure and conditioned response occurs.
Operant conditioning: Learn through reinforcement
Positive: behaviour produces pleasant consequence, likely repeated. Negative consequence, unlikely repeated.
Negative: if consequences of behaviour removes unpleasant stimuli (hunger) likely repeated
Adaptive: attachment gives our species adaptive advantage to survive.
Social releasers: unlock an innate tendency in adults to care for them.
Support: Brazelton: Observed mothers and babies during interactions and reported levels of interactional synchrony.
Extended observation to experiment: mothers ignored babies signals which causes them to be distressed. After
continued ignorance, babies responded by curling up into a ball and lying motionless.
Evaluation: Ethical concerns: psychological harm and permanent damage to child’s development in future (IWM)
Continuity Hypothesis: consistency between early experiences and later relationships.
Law of continuity: more consistent care means better quality of attachment
Law of accumulate separation: effects of every separation adds up.
Monotropy: during critical period children form special attachment with mum (secondary attachment = unnecessary)
Critical period: Until 2 years where attachments can be formed. After this no attachments can be formed.
Internal working model: mental representation of an infant's future relationships in attachment
Support: Bailey: Interviewed 99 mothers with 1 year old children on quality of attachment. Mothers who reported poor
attachment to their own mothers were more likely to have poor attachment with their child.
Evaluation:
● One weakness for Bowlby’s theory is that it doesn't take into account other cultures. Van Ijzendoorn found
multiple attachment was social norms in other countries. Lacks PV because only taking into account some
countries and cannot generalise infants of whole population lacking cultural relativism. secondary attachment
(fathers) also important. Seen as playmates and encourage physical activity/ problem solving. Lack of
sensitivity from fathers may be positive as it encourages this behaviour while mother's role is nurturing and
emotionally developing them in a holistic way. Explains why having multiple attachments is important as it
develops cognition and emotions, theory incomplete.
● Socially sensitive as the idea may have major implications on choices for mothers. If primary attachment is
this important the mother may feel like she has to be clingy to her child before 2 years old. Burnman stated it
places terrible burden on mothers as they may blame themselves if anything bad happens to child. Theory
may psychologically harm mothers because they may feel they have to work less and spend more time with
their baby, causing financial problems and stress to occur and concerning the theory as a whole.
● Research Support for innate drives being the reason for forming attachments. For example, Lorenz’ study
‘imprinting’ with geese demonstrated how geese separated from natural mothers would imprint and form
attachment towards him or any moving object they first exposed to. Support: possibly even humans forming
attachments as similar behaviour is seen across other species in which we adapt types of attachments to
survive through use of social releasers too. However evidence suggests imprinting isn’t permanent as
expected and simply a learned response. Guiton later found chickens who had imprinted themselves to yellow
rubber gloves and tried to mate with them would later begin mating with other chickens provided they spent
enough time with them. Suggests imprinting may have a learned element too and it may not be completely
biological in nature decreasing its internal validity when explaining the formation of attachment.
Learning theory: Dollard and Miller (1950)
All behaviours learned rather than innate. Infants emotional bond and dependence on the caregiver cna be explained
in terms of reinforcement either through classical/ operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning: Learn through association
Associate 2 stimuli together, eventually respond to 1 in same way. Before attachment learned: baby gains pleasure
through being fed. Food = unconditioned stimuli. Pleasure = unconditioned response. When being fed,infant
associates person providing food with food. Mother = neutral stimuli. Through repeated pairings after attachment is
learned baby associates primary caregivers presence to response of pleasure and conditioned response occurs.
Operant conditioning: Learn through reinforcement
Positive: behaviour produces pleasant consequence, likely repeated. Negative consequence, unlikely repeated.
Negative: if consequences of behaviour removes unpleasant stimuli (hunger) likely repeated
