Bowlby’s Theory

• Monotropic theory

  Bowlby believed attachment was an innate system that gives us survival advantage. Attachment evolved as a mechanism to keep young animals safe by ensuring they stay close to adult caregivers.
• Monotropy

  Bowlby placed great emphasis on a child's attachment to one particular caregiver - monotropic. He believed the child's attachment to this one caregiver is different and more important than others. Bowlby believed the more time a baby spent with the primary attachment caregiver the better.

  • the law of continuity - the more constant and predictable a child’s care the better their quality of attachment.
  • the law of accumulated separation - the effects of every separation from the mother add up and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose
• Social releasers & the critical period 1/2

  Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours like smiling, cooing & gripping that encourage attention from adults. These actions activate adult social interaction and make an adult attach to the baby. Bowlby recognised attachment was a reciprocal process. Mother and baby are hand-wired to become attached.
• Social releasers & the critical period 2/2

  The interplay between baby and adult attachment systems gradually builds the relationship between baby & caregiver, beginning in early weeks of life. Bowlby proposed there’s a critical period around 6 months when the infants attachment system is active : viewed more as a sensitive period. A child is maximally sensitive at 6 months, possibly extending to the age of 2. If an attachment isn't formed in this time, the child will find it much harder to form one later.
• Internal Working Model

  Bowlby proposed that a child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver ; internal working model. It serves as a blueprint for all future relationships. It affects the child's later ability to be a parent themselves. People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented. This explans why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves.