Describe and Evaluate One Theory of Attachment and Consider its Significance on Child Rearing Today Bowlby (1951) was influenced by ethological studies that suggested infants were "genetically programmed to form attachments to a single caregiver within a critical time period." The critical time period described is called the "sensitive period," it is a period of time in which something is likely to occur. He suggested that "mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins are for physical health." Bowlby focused on the mother as the attachment figure. Bowlby argued that attachment was an "evolved mechanism;" an innate response that ensured the survival of the child.
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. The attachment being two ways is very important, and Bowlby believed that both parties should find satisfaction and enjoyment from the relationship. He suggested that babies are born programmed to behave in ways that will make attachments easier to form, for example they will display behaviour that encourages attention from adults, these include smiling and cooing etc. These are known as social releasers because the point of
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.
Bowlby claimed that infants need one special attachment relationship that is qualatively different from all others. Lastly, the internal working model which is developed through the monotropic attachment. This model represents the infant’s knowledge about his/her relationship with the primary attachment figure, in other words, the mother. It generates expectations about other relationships, so whatever relationship the mother has formed with their child, whether she is kind and loving, or aggressive and uncaring, the child will develop and have this expectation in mind of all future relationships. For example, Hazan and Shaver (1987) showed that there is a link between early attachment experiences and later romantic relationships.
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.
Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver relationship. In addition to this, Bowlby believed that attachment had an evolutionary component; it aids in survival. "The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component of human nature" (Bowlby, 1988, 3). Characteristics of Attachment Bowlby believed that there are four distinguishing characteristics of attachment: Proximity Maintenance - The desire to be near the people we are attached to. Safe Haven - Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat.
Attachment can form at any age but early attachments are formed through being sociable from birth, this happens through interactions with people from the moment they are born. An example of a social interaction that can later contribute to the child forming a bond is face recognition. This is being able to recognise familiar faces and therefore can be the start of a bond. If early attachment is made with another person, for example this may be the main carer, then the child is likely to go on to strengthen that bond until firm attachments are made. Attachment allows the child to learn trust and feel secure with the person they are bonding with, this is important in how they form relationships with others.
Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into theworld pre-programmed to form attachments with others as this will help them tosurvive. His theory consists of five clear factors that were linked to the developmentof attachment from an infant to its primary care giver; usually the mother. Firstly hestates that attachments are “adaptive” which means the child is at an advantageto survive as it ensures safety and food in order to reproduce. Bowlby states thatchildren are born with innate social releasers such as laughing, crying and attractivefacial features including big cheeks and large eyes which provide them with extracare and comfort. It is important for the infant to form a bond with its caregiverwithin a certain period of time, also known as the critical period.
Outline and Evaluate behavourist view of attachment The learning theory refers to as behaviourists theory' attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of conditioning. The learning theory suggests that through classical conditioning, which is to associate a stimulus with a response, in this case it is food, the baby becomes attached with the person feeding them, causing them to associate their caregivers with food. The baby feels secure around the caregiver because the caregiver is satisfying the babies' psychological needs. This theory is a 'cupboard-love' theory because a baby will only become attached to someone who fulfills his or her psychological needs. This theory may have something to do with the development of attachment because the baby is dependent on the caregiver to feed them, and without food the baby will not survive.