montropic theory

• bowlby was influenced by the work of Lorenz and Harlow, and proposed an evolutionary explanation
• had said that attachment was an innate system that was adapted, providing a survival advantage
• bowlby suggests that imprinting (and attachment) evolved because they ensure young animals and their caregivers stay close and this protects the infants from hazards
• infants are born with certain characteristics which elicit care giving and promote interactions (e.g. smiling, making eye contact etc.) between caregivers and infants
• these characteristics are called social releases and are both physical e.g. a typically (cute) baby face etc. and behavioural e.g. crying, cooing etc
• their purpose is to activate or ‘unlock’ the adult attachment systems (e.g. make the adult attached to and feel love towards the baby)
• bowlby recognised that attachment was reciprocal (i.e. a two-way process) as adults have an innate predisposition to become attached, and the social releases ‘trigger’ that response in caregivers
• this ‘exchange’ of behaviours between infants and caregivers gradually builds a relationship, within the early weeks of life
• bowlby proposed that there is a ‘critical period’ which becomes maximally sensitive at around 6 months where the attachment system is active
• it is thought that if an attachment is not formed by the end of 2 years, a child will find it very difficult to form an attachment later on. Bowlby later proposed a more ‘sensitive period’ of up to 5 years
• monotropy  is the idea that a child forms an attachment to one (i.e. mono) particular caregiver which is qualitatively different from and more important than all other relationships
• according to Bowlby, infants require a qualitatively unique relationship to develop an internal working model and emotional maturity – this special bond is known as a monotropic bond
• this bond helps to maintain proximity between the parent and infant and also offers the infant the opportunity to develop skills and an understanding of how to attach and bond to others
• bowlby put forward a principle called the law of accumulated separation – a baby should spend as much time as possible with its primary attachment figure as the negative effects of each ‘separation’ will build up
• bowlby suggests that children form a template (schema or mental representation) of their relationship with their primary caregiver
• this is called the internal working model because it serves as a ‘blueprint’ for what relationships are like
• however, a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment will tend to form further poor relationships as they expect such treatment from others and treat others in a similar way
• it is suggested that attachment types will impact on friendship relationships as well as the child’s later ability to become a parent themselves in the future, as they base their parenting behaviours on their own experience of being parented