Bowlby's Theory

Bowlby's Theory

1. Bowlby was influenced by Lorenz's work on imprinting of precocial birds

   • this is where an attachment is formed within a critical period ( 3 years) to aid the survival of the infant.
   • Bowlby saw it as an evolutionary device, where emotioanl bonds develop to help protect infants from predators

2. social releasers - allows species to interact with their caregiver, facilitating the attachment process e.g. crying to get attention

3. Monotrophic bonding - infants form one bond, bowlby says it is naturally the mother who the child shares their bond with.

4. internal working model - this early attachment sets a template for relationships and attachments later on in life such as adult realtionships

5. evalutation

   • Pros
     • stimulated more research in the area
     • lots of evidence to support aspects of this hypothesis
     • his ideas have been applied to a lot of practical uses such as child care
   • cons
     • the whole hypothesis is based on imprinting od birds and other precoial species
     • Shaffer and Emerson (1964) have proven that children can form multiple attachments, so monotrophic bonds are not correct
     • there is a lot of emphasis on the mothers bond, it is not taken into account the father will form a bond. this is very representative of the times this hypothesis were made as it was when women were first and foremost house wives and mothers