| What is the concept of monotropy? | Where the attachment is to a single specific caregiver, the relationship has a special significane and is the most important attachment in emotional development.
There is a critical (sensitive, ideal) period of attachment. The child's relationship with their primary attachment figure provdies an internal working model which influences later relationships, expectation they have in their head. |
| What does innate mean? | Refers to characteristics that are born, a prodcut of genetic factors. Such traits may be present at birth or may appear as a results of maturation |
| What is imprinting? | Innate readiness to develop a strong bond with a mother figure, which takes place during a sensitive or critical period |
| What does adaptive mean? | An adjustment of an organism to increase the likelihood of survivial and ultimatley, reproduction |
| What is the critical/sensitive period? | A biologiclaly determind period of time during the child is particularly sensitive to the development of attachment.
Said to happen during the 2nd wuarter of their first year (3-6) months, most sensitive to their development. But later said that it was a sensitive period, maybe up to 2 years - but later than that infants will have difficulty forming attachments. |
| What are social releasers? | Social behaviour or characteristic that elicits a care giving reaction and ensures caregiver reciprocity.
Suggests that they are innate and adaptive and critical of attachments.
eg: the baby face, crying, smiling, cooing noises |
| What is a secure base? | Attachment is important for protection and thus acts as a secure base from which a child can explore the world and be a haven to retreat to when threatened. Having a safe base helps to foster independence |
| What is monotropy? | One relationship that the infant has with their primary attachment figure which is of special signficance in emotional development. This is the name given to the bais towards the primary attachment figure. Inants also have a secondary attachment figures which form a hierarchy of attachments |
| What is the internal working model? | A mental model of the monotropic relationship that enables individuals to predict and control their world and future attachment. A clusture of concepts
Long-term, acts as a template for all future relationships because it generates expections about how loving and reliable people behave.
Influence the child's future pareting, explains why children from functional families tend to have similar family dynamics themselves in the future |
| What is the continuity hypothesis? | The idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotioanlly secure, trusting and socially confident adults. |
| A strength of Bowlby's theory? | -Research support for the role of social releasers as an innate trait, desgined to elicit a caregiving reaction
-Brazelton observed babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasres.
-The reserachers then instructed the babies' priamry attachment figures to ingnore them. Babies who were previously shwon to be normally reponsive, became increasingly distressed and some eventually curled up and layed emotionless
-Illustrates the crucial role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests that they play an important role in the development of attachment |
| A strength of Bowlby's theory? | -Research support for the concept of the internal working model
-Bailey assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their 1 year old babies. Measured the mothers' attachment to their own primary attachment figures (parents)
-Researchers also assessed the attachment quality of their babies. Found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies
-Supports Bowlby's idea that mothers' ability to form attachments to their babies is influence by their own internal working model, which is due to their own early attachment experiences |
| A weakness of of Bowlby's theory? | -A lack of reserach support for monotropy which Bowlby was said to be crucially important
-Schaffer and Emerson found that although most babies did attach to one person at first, a signifiant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time.
-Although the first attachment does appear to have a strong influence on later behaviour, this may simply mean its strong, no different in quality from the child's other attachment. Eg: other attachments to family members provide all the same key qualities (emotional support, safe base)
-Means that Bowlby may be incorrect with his assertion that there is a unqiue quality and importance to the child's first primary attachment figure |
| A weakness of Bowlby's theory? | -Feminist concerns about the soically sensitive nature of the theory, being entirely focsued on the mother to provide caregiving and the father's role being solely economic
-Burman points out this this belief sets up the mothers to take the blames for anything that goes wrong in the child's future. Also gives people an excuse to restrict mothers activites, eg: returning to work
-On the other hand, prior to Bowlby's time peopel didn't think that the mother's role was important, and many custody disputes were settled in favour of the father because the mothers were regarded as not necessary. Bowlby's ideas may have real world applications, like key workers in day care who build na attachment with particular babies
-On balance, Bowlby's theory has done much more good than any incidental harm and several real-world applications have derived from this theory influencing the use of key workers in day-care settings who build an attachment to a specific baby. |
