Explanation of attachememt- Monotropic theory

What’s the evolutionary explanation of attachment from Bowlby?

Attachment is an innate system that gives a survival advantage. Imprinting and attachment evolved to ensure that young animals stay close to their caregivers and are protected

How long is the critical period for humans?

Around two years which is when the infant attachment system is most active

What did Bowlby view the critical period as?

A sensitive period, in an attachment is not formed within the first two years of life, a child will find it much harder to form one later though not impossible

What are social releases?

Social releasers are innate cute behaviours like smiling, cooing and groping that encourage attention from adults

What is the purpose of social releasers?

To activate the adult attachment system, such as making adults feel love towards the baby

Why is attachment a reciprocal process?

Because both mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached and social releasers trigger the response in caregivers

What’s monotropy in Bowlby theory?

Bowlby proposed that infants have one special emotional bond towards its mother

What does the law of continuity state?

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

What does the law of accumulated separation state?

That the effects of every separation from the mother add up and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose

What’s the internal working model?

the internal working model serves as a blueprint a for what relationships are like in a child’s future relationship

What will a child with a reliable caregiver future relationship be?

They will expect that all relationships are loving and reliable and they will bring those qualities to future relationships. It will also effect the child’s later ability to be a parent themselves

Who found contradictory finding on Bowlby theory that infants only form one attachment?

Shaffer and Emerson (1964)

What did Bailey et al (2007) find?

Bailey et al assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to own mothers (using interviews) and attachment to babies (using observations) and findings suggest that mothers who had poor attachment to own mothers were also much more likely to have children with poor attachment