Psychology Attachment: Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

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  • Created by: Sin Heng
  • Created on: 09-03-21 14:58
How long is the critical period?
30 months
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What does the monotropic theory suggest about a child's attachment?
They have an innate drive to survive and so will
ensure attachment occurs.
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What type of explanation is the monotropic
theory?
Evolutionary
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Why must a child form an attachment
within the critical period?
As if they don't, it would lead to long-lasting
negative social consequences for the child.
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Define monotropic
Term to describe the particular attachment that is stronger than all other attachments and is of central importance to the child's development.
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Define the internal working model
mental representation of our attachment with a primary caregiver which affects our perception of what relationships are like and so affects our future relationships
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Example of IWM
A child who had a mother who was inconsistent in their reactivity would grow up to be anxious about their partner having inconsistent thoughts about their relationship which could result in a poor relationship
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State the law of continuity
The more constant and predictable a child's care is, the better the quality of their attachment
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State the law of accumulated seperation
the effects of every separation from the mother will add up, thus no separation would be best
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What are social releasers?
Innate behaviours that encourage attention from adults.
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Examples of social releasers
Smiling, cooing, gripping their finger
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What do social releasers do?
They activate the adult attachment system and make the carer feel love towards their child
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Why is attachment a reciprocal process?
Both mother and baby have an innate tendency to become attached. Babies want to survive and so find attachment, carers respond to the social releasers.
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How does IWM affect the child's future parenting skills?
They will base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented.
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What previous studies have influenced the monotropic theory?
Lorenz' critical period, Harlow's contact comfort and future impact on parenting, Freud's impacts on future from childhood events,
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Strength + Contradiction (A03)-
Supporting evidence on critical period and monotropy
Lorenz geese study-
attachment process of imprinting is an innate process which has a critical period. The geese also attached to a single person/animal, thus showing monotropic behaviour --> increases validity.
However, cannot be generalised onto humans.
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Strength (A03)-
Support for social releasers
Brazelton's observation of interactional synchrony between mothers and babies-extended observation to experiment-primary AF told to ignore social releasers-babies showed distress- some curled up and laid motionless --> strong response from babies supports
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Strength (A03)-
Support for Internal Working Model
Bailey- 99 mother w/ 1 y/o babies assessed on attachment using standard interview and observation.
Findings- mothers who assessed poor attachment to own parents more likely to have children classified as poor according to observations.
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Weakness (A03)-
Another explanation/contradict IWM
Temperament-
attachment varies depending on the child's genetically influenced personality.
Kagan- some babies more anxious than other, some more sociable than others, which explain later social behaviour not attachment experiences.
Bowlby over-emphasised
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Weakness (A03)-
implications for working mothers
Law of accumulated separation sets mothers up to be blamed for any negative events that happen to their child and forces mothers to live a particular lifestyle of a stay-at-home mother.
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Weakness (A03)-
Mixed evidence for monotropy
Schaffer and Emerson- significant minority of children were able to form multiple attachments at the same time of forming their primary one.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What does the monotropic theory suggest about a child's attachment?

Back

They have an innate drive to survive and so will
ensure attachment occurs.

Card 3

Front

What type of explanation is the monotropic
theory?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Why must a child form an attachment
within the critical period?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Define monotropic

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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