Monotropy

• Bowlby's monotropy theory


  Infants have an innate drive to form a strong attachment to their mother, which is vital for survival. This forms an internal working model for future relationships.
• Bowlby's ideas have been applied to early childcare practices, but his view of the father's role as secondary and the claim of permanent damage from lack of monotropy are outdated
• Bowlby argues the father's role is to provide resources for the family while the mother's monotropic role is crucial
• Monotropy may exaggerate the importance of the mother as a primary caregiver and underestimate the role of the father
• Brazelton et al - support for social releasers


  • babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers
  • when instructing PAF to ignore their child they became increasingly distressed
  • shows they are important in attach development
• Bailey et al - 99 mothers


  • Measured mothers' attachment to their PAF and then assessed their attachment to their babies.
  • Poor attachments with PAF = more likely poor attachments to infants