Bowlby's theory

Evolution: forming an attachment is innate; it gives us a survival advantage

• Bowlby looked at the work of Lorenz and Harlow and proposed an evolutionary explanation - that attachment was an innate system that gave a surival advantage
• Imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure young animals stay close to their caregivers, protecting them from hazards

Monotropy: attachment to one person above all others is of central importance to development

• Bowlby believed the more time spent with the primary attachment figure, the better, and he put forward two principles to clarify this:
• The law of continuity: the more constant and predictable the child's care, the better quality attachment they will develop
• The law of accumulated separation: the effects of separation from the mother add up and the safest 'dose', therefore, is a zero dose

Social releasers and the critical…