Adaptive - Attachment is an innate system, it is inherited to improve survival so is therefore adaptive, Bowly suggested that infants are 'programmed' to attach, as well as parents
Social releasers - infants are born with social releasers, such as crying or smiling and looking 'cute', which trigger a response in a caregiver and ensures interaction takes place
Critical period - this is where attachment needs to take place otherwise an infant may not attach at all, this takes place in the first 2.5 years of life
Monotropy - Bowlby places great emphasis on a child's attachment to one caregiver, he believed this is the most important attachment in the child's development
Bowlby said this is the mother, but it doesn't have to be the biological mother
The more time a child spends with the monotropy the better, he put forward two principles
The law of continuity: quality of a child's attachment will be better if they receive consistent and predictable care from the monotropic figure
The law of accumulated separation: having substantial time apart from the monotropy risks a poor quality attachment
Internal working model (IWM):
mental representation that the child forms of their relationship with the primary caregiver
acts as a template for what relationships are like - the child uses their attachment relationship to the caregiver to build an expectation of what future relationships will be like
future relationships mirror childhood attachments
Bowlby believes that IWMs are passed on from one generation to the next - people base their parenting on their own experiences of being parented
Loving relationship with responsive PCG (secure attachment) -> child feels secure -> positive internal working model -> loving future relationships
Poor relationship with unresponsive PCG (insecure attachment) -> child feels unworthy -> negative internal working model -> poor relationships in future