Explanations of attachment: Bowlby's monotropic theory

• What was Bowlby's theory?

  • Based on principle of evolution
  • Attachment is a behaviour that evolves because it helps us survive.
  • We attach to a caregiver that we stay near to protect us from hazards - gives an adaptive advantage.
• What is the critical period?

  Most likely/easiest time to form an attachment.

  • Bowlby originally believed this was 6 months.
  • This is believed to be an innate window of time - however, Bowlby changed his belief and thinks that babies can form attachments up until 2 years old - this is called the sensitive period.
• What are social releasers?


  Characteristics that babies are born with that naturally makes the caregiver want to look after them. E.g. (big eyes, small nose).
• What is monotropic attachment?

  Infants have only 1 special bon with 1 caregiver (typically the mother) = 2-way process between the infant and the caregiver.

  • This provides a child with an internal working model: a mental representation of what a relationship is (schemas).
• What are the 2 key principles of explanations of attachment in Bowlby's monotropic theory?

  • The law of continuity
  • The law of accumulated separation
• What does the law of continuity mean?

  A child's care needs to be constant and predictable which will lead to higher quality attachments.
• What does the law of accumulated separation mean?

  No separation is best for a high quality attachment.

  • This takes a negative toll on the mother as it is unhealthy to constantly spend time with your baby.
  • This take a negative toll on the economy (less mothers working = decrease the tax being paid = less money).
• What is a strength of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachments?

  Supports interactionist approach in nature-nurture debate

  • Suggests that attachments are an innate mechanism to aid survival, therefore supporting a nature view. However, his notion of an internal working model suggests that adult relationships are determined by an innate mechanism shaped by our early nurturing relationship experiences. Therefore, there is some level of nature and nurture involved in forming attachments, which is a more holistic view.
• What is a strength of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachments?

  Research support

  • Hazan and Shaver (1987) used a self-report questionnaire called “the love quiz” to assess the internal working model. They found a positive correlation between early attachment types and later adult relationships – this supports Bowlby’s idea of an internal working model and suggests that our early childhood experiences do affect our later adult relationships.
• What is the counter argument for 'research support' of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachments?

  Participants used self-report measures to answer questions about their childhood. This means that there's a chance of social desirability bias, especially if the participants didn’t want to be honest about their childhood, leading to invalid results
• What is the limitation of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachments?

  Ethical implications for mothers

  • Bowlby’s law of accumulated separation suggests mothers should always be with their baby during the sensitive period – this can be unhealthy and unrealistic (stressful, not working).