2.5 exp of attachment - bowlby's monotropic theory AO1 and 3 (recent)

Is this theory nature or nurture?

nature - biological and innate system

what are the 6 aspects of the bowlby’s monotropic theory?

CR.I.I.M.P.S

• critical period: 0-2.5yrs with healthy future attachment , if it doesn’t occur then it’ll lead to diffucilty of forming future attachment

• innate programming: attachment is innate (genetically caused) system that is biologically programmed into babies from birth to help them surivive

• IWM: a mental representation of what RS are like; acts as a twmplate for reltaionships affects future RS

• monotropy: infants have a special emotional bond typically with their mother and this is more important and different

• proximity seeking: babies instinct to seek proximity from their CG for safety as it protects them from hazards

• social releasers: are innate mechanisms (crying,smiling) of babies that lead to adult wanting to provide care

strength: supporting research

p: strength of MTOA there’s supporting research by animal studies

e: harlow’s study using rhesus monkeys supports concepts of the MT, where mostly monkeys did not mate realistically and the monkeys becomes mothers were aggressive and abusive to their offspring

e: supports MTOA as the grown monkeys had a poor IWM leading to hard difficult attachment as they only attached to wired/cloth mothers

l: evidence like this increases validity of the MT showing their theories can be observed irl

weakness: socially sensitive

p: weakness is that it is socially sensitive towards to mothers

e: bowlby’s WHO report suggested that the baby requires constant care from the mother for healthy social development.

e: burman (1994) suggests that MT places a burden of responsibility towards to mothers and pushes certain life choices away as well as blaming them if something bad happened to the child regardless on father

l: this ss is an issue which BT creates a inaccurate and stereotypical idea of what a p-c rs looks like

strength: considers nature and nurture

p: although the role of nature is emphasised, nature is also part of this explanation

e: BT believes that the driven to form an attachment is innate and that a baby has a biological drive to survive and to attach (SR)

e: but bowlby also acknowledged the role of environemnt factors such as responsiveness and sensitivity of CG towards the child - poor attachments can lead to a form of dysfunctional or non existent IWM

l: this means it is a less reductionist than the LT which focuses on nuture alone