“Discuss Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment. Refer to an alternative theory within your discussion”

Bowlby proposed that attachment is innate. Attachment is essential for early survival as the caregiver provides shelter for the child. Without having a caregiver, infants would not survive into adulthood and be able to pass on their genes in the future. Having the security of a caregiver means that they are guaranteed survival and therefore infants will have this innate desire to attach. Bowlby placed great emphasis on attachment to one particular caregiver. This attachment is more important and more special than any others (particularly the mother). Infants are born with social releasers such as crying, giggling and ‘looking cute’ - these encourage love and attention from the caregiver. Bowlby stated that infants have to attach within a critical period, the first 2 years of live. However, he also stated that the first 3-6 months is particularly important. The internal working model is the child’s mental representation of what relationships are like based on their early relationship with their caregiver. If they fail to attach, they will have a negative perception of future relationships and therefore fail to form healthy relationships. Equally, if they do attach and then their primary caregiver leaves, they will struggle to maintain future relationships in fear of rejection or being left, as this is what they are used to.Research support for Bowlby’s theory that attachment is innate comes from Lorenz’s study of imprinting. He found that goslings attached to the first living thing that they saw. He placed them in a incubator and within the first few minutes of hatching they saw and attached to him. From this moment on, they followed him around, seeing him as their caregiver. However, it would be inaccurate to generalise from animals to humans. Goslings are mobile from birth and therefore may have a greater need for survival and therefore need to attach quickly in order to survive. The critical period for birds is instantly whereas for humans it is the first two years. Therefore, the process of attachment for humans is much more time consuming and deep-rooted than for birds. Moreover, it can’t be concluded that attachment is completely innate - there might be many other factors involved in such a long process. A more suitable theory may be learning theory. This states that a baby has to learn to form attachments to its caregiver and behaviour is learnt through conditioning. Classical conditioning, for example, states that babies are born with certain unconditioned stimuli, for example the need for food. They therefore have an unconditioned response of happiness when presented with food. Over time, they associated their caregiver with food as they are the one who feeds them and therefore learns the behaviour of being happy when their caregiver is present. This means that they will attach to the caregiver. This theory may be more appropriate as it complements the idea that the critical period is a long time and therefore attachment is a long process, not something that can happen instantly if it were to be innate. Although infants are born with some innate instincts like the desire for food, they then go on to learn to attach to the caregiver who provides for their survival needs. However, there is research opposing learning theory such as Schaffer and Emerson who found that infants developed primary attachments to the mother even though she might not have done the feeding. This suggests that attachment is therefore much more complex than just stimulus-response and that there are other factors involved.Research support for Bowlby’s internal working model comes from Hazan and Shazer. They created a ‘love quiz’ which assessed attitudes about adult relationships. Results showed that individuals who experiences poor quality attachment in their early years were less likely to hold down or value long term relationships. This supports the idea that their expectations of future relationships were negative due to a faulty internal working model which was caused by negative attachments in during their critical period.Furthermore, there is much real world application for Bowlby’s monotropic theory. It had an enormous impact on the care of young children. For example, nowadays when a child is brought into care, it is made sure that adoptions take place as soon as possible during the critical period. This is beneficial as it means that they will be able to attach healthily during the critical period and therefore have a positive internal working model so that they can go on to have healthy adult relationships. There are also implications for society. Bowlby places much emphasis on the role of the mother. This is socially sensitive as if a single father is bringing up a child, they may feel like they are inadequate and unable to look after their child. This therefore results in a self fulfilling prophecy and ultimately a poor upbringing for the child. It could also mean that fathers believe that their role is less important than the mothers, they feel less guilt in leaving the family and neglecting the children. Again, resulting in a poor upbringing and most likely faulty internal working model for the child.