Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

• Attachment


  An emotional tie between two people; a caregiver (usually a mother) and a child. The relationship is reciprocal (shared)
• Attachment


  • Babies are born with an innate instinct to form attachments
• Bowlby's perspective


  Evolutionary - Infants are born with an innate tendency to form attachments in order to increase their chances of survival
• Bowlby's theory of monotropy is not supported by Schaefer and Emerson as it does not explain multiple attachments
• Montropy can be controversial as it can be seen as blaming mothers for anything that goes wrong, even though this was not Bowlby's intention
• Bowlby believed that babies generally formed one attachment to their primary caregiver


  This attachment was special, in some way different from later attachments
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found most babies did attach to one person first, however, they also found that a significant minority appeared able to form multiple attachments at the same time
• Schaffer states that there is no evidence from societies where infant care is shared between members of the community that there are any negative effects on the child compared to those who only have one significant bond
• Brazelton et al. (1975) observed mothers and babies during their interactions, reporting the existence of interactional synchrony
• Brazelton et al. extended the study from an observation to an experiment where primary attachment figures were instructed to ignore their babies' signals
• When the attachment figures continued to ignore the baby, some responded by curling up and lying motionless
• Social releasers


  Babies have social releasers which 'unlock' an innate tendency in adults (in particular mothers) to care for them
• Critical period


  Babies have to form an attachment with their caregiver during a critical period between birth and 2½ years old
• Monotropy


  Bowlby believed that infants form one very special attachment with their mother. This special, intense attachment is known as monotropy
• Internal working model


  Through the monotropic attachment, the infant would form an Internal working model - a special model for relationships. All the child's future adult relationships will be based on their early attachment relationship