Monotropic Theory

• Bowlby's Theory of Attachment.

  Bowlby rejected learning theory. He studied the work of Lorenz and Harlow and instead proposed an evolutionary explanation for attachment.

  Bowlby believed that the ability to form attachments was part of our innate systems that gave us a survival advantage. He claimed that both imprinting and forming attachments evolved because they ensured that young animals stayed close to their caregivers and therefore remained protected.
• What is Monotropy in Bowlby's Monotropic theory of attachment?

  This is the theory that the child forms an attachment to one particular caregiver. This attachment is different and more important than others.

  It's more likely to be the mother but doesn't have to be the biological mother.
• What does the law of continuity state?

  That the more predictable the child's care the better the quality of attachment.
• What are social releasers and the critical period?

  Babies are born with a set of innate behaviours like smiling, which encourage attention from adults.

  Both the mother and baby have an innate predisposition to form attachments. The monotropic attachment must be formed within a critical period of around two years.
• What is the internal working model?

  A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. It serves as a template for further relationships.
• Why do children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves?

  Due to the internal working model which forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. It can also affect the child's later ability to be able to be a parent themselves as people tend to base their own parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented.

  So this is why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves.
• Bowlby argues that infants are born with an innate tendency to learn from attachment with their parents to increase the chances of survival.
• According to Bowlby, infants possess inborn social releasers, which unlock a biological tendency in adults to care for them. Examples include ‘baby face’ features or smiling and cooing. Babies must form an attachment during the critical period which is between six months and two years of age.
• Bowlby later acknowledged that infants could form an attachment after the critical period (up to thirteen years of age); however, the successful formation of an attachment would be increasingly difficult after the critical period. He said that if an attachment didn’t form during this time frame then the child would be damaged for life – socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.
• Bowlby stated that: infants form one special attachment which he called a secure primary attachment. Through the secure primary attachment, the infant forms an internal working model which is a mental template of what family members relationships look like.