Bowlby's Monotropic theory to Att.

• Attachment is adaptive: John Bowlby was interested in the relationship between caregiver and child. He proposed that an attachment was important for the survival of the child. Human infants are physically helpless when they are born therefore they have evolved with an innate tendency to form an attachment.
• Monotropy


  Bowlby's theory is described as monotropic because he placed great emphasis on a child's attachment to one particular caregiver. Bowlby believed that human infants have an innate tendency to become attached to one particular person. This is usually the person who shows sensitivity in their responses (sensitive responsiveness) to the infant (main caregiver). He believed monotropy was essential for the healthy psychological development of the child.
• Social releasers


  Infants are born with social releasers. These are social behaviours that create a caregiving reaction such as crying and smiling. These are necessary to ensure that interaction takes place and an attachment is formed between the attachment figure and the infant. Infants become most strongly attached to the person who interacts best – the person who responds most sensitively to the infant's social releasers.
• Critical period


  Bowlby believed that the attachment between an infant and its caregiver had to happen at least in the first 3 years of the child life and preferably in the first year. This is known as the critical period for attachment. He said it was critical in the sense that if children did not form an attachment they would suffer negative psychological effects, particularly in adulthood.
• Internal working model


  Attachment enables the infant to learn how to form healthy emotional relationships. The internal working model is the idea that the first relationship (monotropy) provides a template for all future relationships. This is part of the continuity hypothesis suggesting that early patterns of attachment are related to how the child has future relationships as an adult.
• Critical Period


  Bowlby believed that the attachment between an infant and its caregiver had to happen at least in the first 3 years of the child life and preferably in the first year. This is known as the critical period for attachment.
• Bowlby's Theory of Attachment

  • Attachment is adaptive and innate
  • Imprinting supports the idea that attachment is adaptive and innate
  • Newborn animals like goslings form a picture of their parent(s) within hours of birth which helps them stick closely to this important source of protection and food
  • This has evolutionary value as the young animal is more likely to be safe from predators, be fed, and learn how to find food, increasing their chances of survival and natural selection
• Bowlby's theory has real life applications


  It has bought change to public policies, emphasising the importance of contact between caregivers and their children in the early stages of life. This led to the implementation of mother and baby units in healthcare services, and other childcare polices regarding children in hospital and day-care.
• Evidence that attachment is adaptive and innate


  • Imprinting supports the idea that attachment is adaptive and innate
  • Newborn animals like goslings form a picture of their parent(s) within hours of birth which helps them stick closely to this important source of protection and food
  • This has evolutionary value as the young animal is more likely to be safe from predators, be fed, and learn how to find food, increasing their chances of survival and natural selection
• There is strong evidence to show that cute infant behaviours are intended to initiate social interaction and that doing so is important to the baby
• When attachment figures were instructed to ignore their babies' signals (social releasers)


  The babies initially showed some distress but, when the attachment figures continued to ignore the baby some responded by curling up and lying motionless
• Evidence has challenged the validity of the monotropy aspect of Bowlby's theory
• Shaffer and Emerson (1964) found that although most babies did attach to one person at first, a number formed multiple attachments at the same time