bowlby's theory

• P: attachment is clearly important in emotional development, but the question is whether it is critical for survival

  E: bowlby suggested that attachments develop when the infant is older than three months. this is very late as a mechanism to protect infants. in our distant ancestors it was vital for infants to become attached as soon as they are born. the age of attachment may be linked to features of a species' life. human infants start crawling, attachment is vital and that is when attachments develop in humans
• link for attachment is adaptive

  L: this therefore supports bowlby's view that attachment is adaptive
• P: according to bowlby it should not be possible to form attachments beyond the important critical period between 3 and 6 months.

  E: psychologists have studied children who fail to form attachments during this period. Rutter shows that bowlby's claim is true to an extent. it appears less likely that attachments will form after this period, but it isnt possible. the developmental window is one where children are maximally receptive to the formation of certain characteristics or behaviour, but nevertheless such developments can take place outside this window
• link for sensitive period

  L: for this reason researchers now prefer to use the term 'sensitive period' rather than 'critical period'
• P: the multiple attachment model proposes all attachments are simply integrated into one single internal working model

  E: this contradicts bowlby's idea of monotropy. however, the two models may not be so different. secondary attachments in bowlby's theory do contribute to social development but healthy development requires one central person 'higher' than all the others in a hierarchy. research on infant-father attachment suggests a key role for fathers as secondary attachments and in social development
• link for multiple attachment

  L: this therefore supports bowlby's concept of monotropy