He also described social releasers; sucking, smiling, crying and cuddling. Bowlby states that these social releasers are innate behaviours which ensure proximity and contact with the baby's attachment figure. However, research has shown that multiple attachments may be more common than monotropy, contradicting Bowlby. Many psychologists have supported Bowlby; Hazan and Shaver (1987) aimed to discover if love in adulthood is directly related to attachment type as a child. They interviewed respondents to an advertisement and asked them to pick a statement best describing
Secondly, he suggests that infants are born with innate social releasers, such as crying and smiling, and that they also have cute faces to elicit care-giving. Besides this, Bowlby believed that there is a Critical period to form an attachment which is 2 ½ years. It is important that babies form attachment before this critical period as Bowlby said that, if this didn’t happen it will be much more difficult thereafter, and you will also be damaged for life; socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically. Furthermore, he suggested that a baby focuses its attention on one special person, which is the definition of monotropy. Bowlby claimed that infants need one special attachment relationship that is qualatively different from all others.
First, the formulation of Bowlby's theory will be explained. This will be followed by a presentation of research which enabled the discovery of different forms of attachment. Also factors influencing infant's internal working model such as parental sensitivity and association between early attachment, and later development as well as the concept of transmission of attachment will be discussed. Moreover changes to original theory in light of this research will be examined. According to Bowlby (1973) a strong emotional bond between the mother figure and the infant called attachment has the biological origin.
Also this essay will discuss the impact on children and adults of disrupted attachment and separation. Bowlby’s theory of attachment is the idea that children form a two way attachment with their primary caregiver, and this relationship should be warm, intimate and continuous in order for the child to develop properly. Bowlby believed that the relationship between a mother or primary caregiver and their child was most crucial during the first 18 to 24 months of life and that is, was this time, which affected later socialisation. He also thought that there was a sensitive period in the first few years of life and if an attachment was not formed. In addition he suggested the idea of monotropy, which is the suggestion that infants tend to direct attachment behaviours towards a single attachment figure, and that there is one special bond and this is typically between a mother and its child.
Freud believed that these first experiences formed solid foundations on which the developing client would structure the rest of their life. The adult personality was directly formed in childhood, according to the experience and treatment as a child. If the experiences in childhood were happy and balanced, then the child could develop into a normal, well balanced and adjusted adult. The psychodynamic approach places great emphasis on the years of childhood, investigating how the client comes to terms with and resolves any conflict conjured in this early period of life. It continues to help the client to understand and overcome this conflict.
Bowlby was very much influenced by Lorenz’s (1935) study of imprinting which showed that attachment was innate and therefore has a survival value - during the evolution of humans it would have been the babies who stayed close to their mothers who would have survived to have children of their own. In turn, Bowlbys evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with their main caregiver – usually the mother – in order to survive, this is known as monotropy. According to this babies instinctively seek proximity to their mother figures; hence they display social releaser behaviours, e.g. crying when in contact with a stranger, in order to stimulate care from mother. Forming this attachment provides a safe base, giving babies the confidence to explore, therefore Bowlby suggested that this initial attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it during the critical period (first 2 1/2 years) can have severe consequences on the childs development.
John Bowlby (1991) has been acclaimed for forming the attachment theory regarding maternal-infant relationships. Through his theory, Bowlby illustrated that secure attachment between a maternal figure and infant is detrimental for the development of the child. The ethological approach taken by Bowlby was based on the Freudian views that the critical developmental age for infants is between birth and three years old. Bowlby held the view that a child showing secure attachement towards a maternal figure would thrive developmentally (Flanagan, 1999). According to Bee and Boyd (2010) attachment is defined as having a sense of security and an emotional bond with another person.
For babies and infants this would be the primary care giver, normally the mother. This is called monotropy and to help form this bond infants use things called social releasers which are simply things like giggling or copying others to attract attention, these are positive social releasers things that make you think that you want that to happen again but there are also negative social releasers, such as crying, that make you want them to stop and so you attempt to find and fix the problem. Whatever the differences both kinds achieve their aim of attracting your attention. Bowlby suggested that, like other biological processes, attachment has a Critical period in which to form the bond. He believed that in this case the most likely case scenario was that you had to form an attachment within the first two and a half years of your life or not
Q: Outline and Evaluate Bowlby’s Theory. (12 Marks) Bowlby believed we are born with an innate tendency to form attachments. Bowlby believed that to help us attach we have inborn social releasers are our reactions. For example a baby might giggle to show happiness or cry to show sadness. The crying will act as an inborn social releaser as the mother will come to the aid of her child and try to comfort it always.
Psychoanalysis was sprung up and dully applied as a psychological problem solving method by Sigmund Freud. Nevertheless, Psychoanalysis indicates that development are completely dependent on the comatose mind. Psychoanalysis holds that early life know-hows are very important in development. In the process of talking to his patients about their problems, Freud realized that their problems were an offshoot of their experiences in life. According to Sigmund Freud, as children grow up pleasure and sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and gradually shifts to the genitals.