Bowlby (1953) drew on learning theory,
psychoanalytic theory and ethology (the scientific
study of animal behaviour) in formulating his
evolutionary perspective on attachment
proposed that human infants and caregivers
inherit mechanisms that enable them to
attach to each other
these have evolved through natural selection
and so are innate
the process of attachment is two-way and involves
various factors
social releasers
refer to the way the infant look,
cries, smiles etc.
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
The critical period
Bowlby borrowed
Lorenz's (1952) work on
imprinting in goslings
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.
This process is so automatic that, in absence of the mother,
goslings were equally able to imprint on Lorenz
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
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
the continuity hypothesis
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
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
monotropy
Bowlby also thought infants
had an innate tendency to form
an attachment to key figure,
usually the mother
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
Evaluation of Bowlby's theory
the nature of the critical period
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
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
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
this led them to propose that
there is a sensitive period for
attachment that can be extended
with the right kind of care
the continuity hypothesis
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
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
mothers who were rejecting tended to have avoidant infants and
those who were inconsistent had ambivalently attached infants
if these early attachments have long-lasting effects, as Bowlby expected, the
type of attachment should be reflected in later relationships
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
monotropy or
multiple
attachments?
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
in a longitudinal study of 60 infants, Schaffer
and Emerson (1964) found multiple
attachments in:
29% of infants at 7 months
59%- 10 months
87%- 18 months
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
infants were, therefore, capable of forming a number of
relationships with varying shades of intensity
this probably reflects their increasing
maturity and sociability rather than a
tendency to prefer the mother above
all others