AO1

• background

  • worked as a psychiatrist treating emotionally disturbed children
  • observed a number of people who had experienced earl separations from family - maternal deprivation
  • suggested we need a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with the mother
• bowlby's attachment theory

  • attachment is adaptive and innate
  • we have an innate drive to be attached for long term benefits
  • attachment increases survival and chances of reproduction
  • attachment and imprinting ensure we are protected and have a source of food
• monotropy

  • a unique and monotropic relationship with a mother figure is of the highest importance
  • 2 laws: law of continuity - the more constant and predictable a child's care the better quality of attachment; law of accumulated separation - the effects of every instance of separation from from the mother add up so it's better to have no separation
  • primary caregiver is a secure base from which the child can explore the world and then is a safe haven they can return to
• social releasers


  • babies are born with a set of innate social releasers
  • these facilitate bonding by encouraging and activating adult attention (e.g amiling, cooing and crying)
  • reciprocal process - mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached and the social releasers trigger the caregiver response
• critical period


  • around 2 years - infant attachment system is active
  • if no attachment is formed in this time, a child will struggle to form one later on
• internal working model 


  • a mental representation of the child's first attachment - a blueprint for further relationships
  • develops a model and serves as a template for emotional relationships and what to expect
  • poor treatment in childhood leads to poor expectations about how they should be treated or treat others
  • parents base their parenting on their own experience of being parented (negative childhood -> negative parent)