Topic Summaries

Bowlby’s theory of attachment

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Attachment > Bowlby’s theory of attachment
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  • 👥 Bowlby (1969) believed there must be an innate and evolutionary explanation for attachment which gives an advantage for survival.
  • Key principles of Bowlby’s theory:
    • Attachment is innate, adaptive, and monotropic.
      • Innate: attachment is a biological mechanism that gives us the drive to become attached from birth. Similarly, the mother is biologically programmed to love the child.
      • Adaptive: attachment has evolved to provide a baby with innate mechanisms from birth.
      • Monotropic: children cannot form multiple, meaningful attachments.Instead, they form one, special emotional bond to one specific person. The more time spent together, the stronger the bond will be. There are two main laws to this concept: the law of continuity and the law of accumulated separation:
        • The law of continuity: the more consistent and predictable care is for a child, the higher quality of the attachment.
        • The law of accumulated separation: the effects of every period of time where the mother is separated from her child will accumulate. Bowlby concluded that the ideal amount of separation is none.
    • There are social releasers: also known as ‘baby behaviours’ like crying or smiling that are intended to trigger caregiving.
    • There is a critical period: Harlow and others theorised this was approximately 2 years to form attachment.
    • There is an internal working model: this is a template for future relationships (i.e.loving caregiver leads to positive relationships).
  • Evaluation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory:
    • Supported by 👥 Brazelton et al. (1975) who observed social releasers in the caregiver–baby ‘interaction dance,’ and by 👥 Bailey et al. (2007) who found that mothers with poor attachments often had infants with insecure attachments, supporting the internal working model.
    • Monotropy is debatable as evidence later showed that children can form multiple attachments, although the nature of attachment may vary.

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