Bowlby's theory of attachment

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A Levels Psychology Mind Map on Bowlby's theory of attachment, created by Bethan Stevenson on 04/26/2014.
Bethan Stevenson
Mind Map by Bethan Stevenson, updated more than 1 year ago
Bethan Stevenson
Created by Bethan Stevenson almost 11 years ago
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Resource summary

Bowlby's theory of attachment
  1. basic assumptions of the theory
    1. Bowlby (1953) drew on learning theory, psychoanalytic theory and ethology (the scientific study of animal behaviour) in formulating his evolutionary perspective on attachment
      1. proposed that human infants and caregivers inherit mechanisms that enable them to attach to each other
        1. these have evolved through natural selection and so are innate
        2. the process of attachment is two-way and involves various factors
        3. social releasers
          1. refer to the way the infant look, cries, smiles etc.
            1. signals thought to be innately appealing to caregivers, eliciting social responses from tem to the infant such as feeding, comforting and protection- all of which are important in attachment process
            2. The critical period
              1. Bowlby borrowed Lorenz's (1952) work on imprinting in goslings
                1. in order to ensure survival after hatching, goslings much imprint upon, or attach to, the mother by following her before they are 12-17 hours old.
                  1. This process is so automatic that, in absence of the mother, goslings were equally able to imprint on Lorenz
                2. Bowlby thought that, there was a critical period during which the infant must form an attachment to a caregiver, starting at about 7 months of age, peaking at about 18 months and end at about 2 to 3 years of age
                  1. if this 'window of opportunity' is missed, the ability to form emotional attachments is lost, and this can predispose an individual to lasting problems informing relationships
                3. the continuity hypothesis
                  1. Bowlby thought that a 'warm, intimate, continuous relationship with the mother... or permanent mother substitute' was essential for healthy attachment to occur, as it gave individuals a 'working model' about how relationship function
                    1. any disruption to the continuity could damage- or even prevent- the formation of the attachment bond with the working model, leading to problems in later life
                    2. monotropy
                      1. Bowlby also thought infants had an innate tendency to form an attachment to key figure, usually the mother
                        1. he used the term 'monotropy' (derived from the Greek meaning 'to turn to one') to describe this tendency and suggested that failure to form such an attachment could result in insecure attachment and avoidant, mistrustful behaviour in childhood and adulthood
                        2. Evaluation of Bowlby's theory
                          1. the nature of the critical period
                            1. researchers following Bowlby have questioned whether the critical period that appeared to be so clearly defined in some species could really be applied to human infants
                              1. studies into adoption (e.g. Rutter et al. 1998) have shown that children can form successful attachment bonds even though the critical period may be long past
                                1. they studied children raised in institutions and adopted after optimum age, and found that the children were able to form attachments with their adoptive parents, but the later in adoption, the less successful this tended to be
                                  1. this led them to propose that there is a sensitive period for attachment that can be extended with the right kind of care
                              2. the continuity hypothesis
                                1. while it is important for infants to trust that they will not be abandoned, it is not the case that any continuous relationship will do
                                  1. Ainsworth (1967) thought that the ability of the mother to be sensitive to an infants signals and to respond appropriately led to more secure attachments
                                    1. mothers who were rejecting tended to have avoidant infants and those who were inconsistent had ambivalently attached infants
                                      1. if these early attachments have long-lasting effects, as Bowlby expected, the type of attachment should be reflected in later relationships
                                        1. supported by information collected for the Minnesota Longitudinal Study (Scroufe et al. 2005), in which several studies showed that, in adolescence, children who were securely attached in infancy were wore socially skilled, higher in self-esteem, more popular, more confident and more prepared to act on their initiative than less securely attached children
                                2. monotropy or multiple attachments?
                                  1. Bowlby thought the maternal-infant bond was special, but he also acknowledged that infants don't attach to primary caregiver alone but are capable of multiple attachments
                                    1. in a longitudinal study of 60 infants, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found multiple attachments in:
                                      1. 29% of infants at 7 months
                                        1. 59%- 10 months
                                          1. 87%- 18 months
                                          2. contrary to Bowlby's predictions, only about half of 18 month-old infants were most strongly attached to their mother, with about 1/3 being attached to father and the rest to both parents
                                            1. infants were, therefore, capable of forming a number of relationships with varying shades of intensity
                                              1. this probably reflects their increasing maturity and sociability rather than a tendency to prefer the mother above all others
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