AO3 - Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

• Research to support Bowlby’s Monotropic theory of attachment comes from Lorenz. Lorenz studied imprinting on goslings and found a critical period of 12-17 hours in which imprinting had to take place otherwise it would not later. This supports Bowlby’s concept of a critical period, that infants must attach within the first 2.5 years of life otherwise it would be difficult to form attachments later, therefore strengthening Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment.
• Research to support Bowlby’s monotropic theory and concept of an internal working model was conducted by Hazan and Shaver who created the ‘Love quiz’. They found that securely attached children had happy and long-lasting relationships in later life whereas insecurely attached children found it hard to form relationships and many were divorced. Therefore supporting the Internal Working Model as a feature of Bowlby’s monotropic theory as their early infant attachments acted as a template for future relationships.
• Research to contradict Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory was conducted by Schaffer and Emerson who found evidence to support the view that children have multiple attachments. They found these multiple attachments may help children to develop socially, emotionally and cognitively. Therefore contradicting the Monotropy proposed by Bowlby, and the idea that infants have one attachment, thus limiting his Monotropic Theory of attachment.
• However, Bowlby’s Monotropic theory of attachment is not the only explanation of why infants and caregivers attach. An alternative explanation of attachment is the learning theory. The learning theory proposes that we learn to attach to a feeder via stimulus, response and associations, rather than attachment being innate as it gives us a survival advantage due to social releasers triggering a caring instinct in adults. This therefore suggests that Bowlby’s monotropic theory is not the only explanation of how and why infants attach.