Bowlby argued that attachment was an "evolved mechanism;" an innate response that ensured the survival of the child. Bowlby argued that the first attachment between a baby and its caregiver provided the child with an internal working model. This is referred to as the continuity hypothesis and it gives the child an idea of themselves as lovable (or not) and of other people as trustworthy (or not.) Bowlby suggested the idea of monotropy in his attachment theory; the idea that an attachment to a single caregiver provides the experience of an intense emotional relationship and forms the basis of the internal working model; it is the schema a child has for forming future relationships, both socially and personally. He also described social releasers; sucking, smiling, crying and cuddling.
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.
(Bowlby, 1969) Fonagy et al. (1993) sought to empirically test the validity of Bowlby's idea of internal working models. The results they produced supported the concept of internal working models, demonstrating that mothers who had mental representations of insecure attachments with their own parents tended to be less securely attached to their own children. In accordance with the internal working model hypothesis, Bowlby believed that secure and long term relationships with a caregiver was essential to the infants later development. Therefore, any disruption to the attachment bond before the child reaches two years of age will have negative consequences for the future.
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.
Though they begin to trust in these reactions, they still are not officially attached. • From 6-8 until somewhere between 18-24month, infants enter into phase three also is known as the “clear-cut” attachment phase. During this time there should be evidence in the infant’s behavior of attachment to their primary care givers. This attachment is proved by the serration anxiety that is experienced by most infants this age, it seems that it is at its worst somewhere between 6 and 15 months. Just like adults, all infants react differently in different situations and this is no different, some infants do not experience separation anxiety while
Attachment can be describe in two different ways, one being bowlbys theory of attachment which is based on attachment through evolution and innate. In this theory bowlbys believes that attachment is innate, where each individual is born with the inherited need to form an attachment, in order for them to survive. In order to be able to survive, bowlbys believes the attachment must form within the sensitive period between the 3-6 months old, unlike a critical period, the sensitive period suggest that it is likely that the attachment will form between this time, but after 6 months it will be difficult for the infants to form their first attachment. Bowlbys argues that the infant forms a special attachment, usually with the mother called monotrapy, where the infant will then have a monotropy attachment to its mother which will provide key features to survival. These include safety, where the child will feel safe in their attachment to their mother but separation will lead to anxiety.
His conclusions led him to postulate that the distress at separation from the mother was universal in babies. Bowlby characterised this distress as following the pattern of infant protest, followed by despair and ending in eventual detachment. The term 'separation anxiety' was brought about echoing ethological survival techniques in which patterns of actions enable survival of young animals. Such ideas influenced Bowlby in postulating a significant period attachment of one to five years which was imperative historically to biological survival, and if were not in place then emotional and intellectual problems would occur in adulthood. This can be seen as a rigid attitude and has played a large part in influencing childcare decisions through the establishment of a connection between maternal
He proposed a theory of continuation; individuals who are securely attached during infancy develop to be socially and emotionally competent in the future, on the other hand, insecurely attached children have more social and emotional difficulties later on in childhood and adulthood. The reason behind this is because the mother’s behaviour creates an internal working model of relationships that in effect leads the infants to expect the same in later relationships. According to Bowlby, children have an innate determination to become attached to a caregiver because it has long-term benefits as does Imprinting. This is because both attachment and imprinting ensures that a young child/animal stays close to a caregiver who can provide it with food, comfort and protection. In this way, attachment and imprinting are adaptive behaviours.
Bowlby believed that a mother has similar genetic coding that allows her to react instinctive to, and respond to her infants needs. Bowlby stated that the first attachment formed is the most important and he believed this should be the mother. He called this “monotrophy”. This attachment must be formed within a “critical period” in the infant’s early life for it to be effective. This first attachment is imperative to enable the child to go on and form other attachments and develop socially and emotionally.
They believe that securely attached infants would become autonomous adults; these know the importance of their past relationships and can recall positive and negative experiences. Those that had insecure attachments would fall into the dismissing or preoccupied category. They would see their childhood experiences as either unimportant and dismiss them or as important but cannot resolve issues. Using the AAI, Hamilton (1994) studied 30 adolescents and found a strong correlation between infant attachment type and adult attachment type. Similarly Steinberg (1990) found that securely attached adolescents were more likely to maintain healthy relationships with their parents than those classified as dismissive or preoccupied.