bowlby's theory

• bowlby's theory was the 'monotropic theory'
• infants have an innate predesposition to one caregiver
• Infant attachment is adaptive; they are predespidosed to stay with their caregiver for food and protection
• infant attachments are monotropic - attachment to one single caregiver
• emphasis on childs attachment to one caregiver and this is stronger than that of the other caregiver
• it is not neccesarily the biological mother
• the more time the baby spent with the primary attachment figure, the better it was

  he put forward two principles to clarify this:

  1. the law of contiguity
  2. the law of accumulated seperation
• law of contiguity:

  the more constant and predictable the child care was, the stronger the attachment
• the law of accumilation:

  every seperation from the mother adds up
• the internal working model:

  the idea that the monotropic relationship provides the infant of a mental representation of relationships
• bowlby suggests the IWM provides two functions:

  1. early attachment to the mother provides a template for future relationships
  2. provides child with insight into caregivers nehvaiour and the child ability to impact it
• babies are born with innate cute behaviours to encourage attention from adults
• both mother and baby have an innate predisposition to form an attachment
• bowlby argues the critical period for forming attachments is 2 years, after that time period, it'll be much harder to form attachments