Bowlby's Work on Attachment (Edexcel A-Level Psychology): Revision Notes
Bowlby's Work on Attachment
Background and context
John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who trained for the army before working at the Tavistock Clinic in London. The World Health Organization appointed him as a consultant in mental health, and he produced numerous publications on maternal care and mental health during this role.
During the 1930s, Bowlby became interested in understanding the difficulties experienced by children who had spent time in institutional care. He noted that many children separated from their primary caregiver in infancy developed emotional problems and struggled to form close relationships with others. Bowlby proposed that these difficulties might result from missing the opportunity to form a close bond with their caregiver during a critical period of development.
Bowlby's observations of institutionalised children revealed a consistent pattern: those separated from their primary caregiver in early life often struggled with emotional regulation and relationship formation later on. This observation became the foundation for his groundbreaking attachment theory.
Bowlby's theory of attachment
Evolutionary theory
Bowlby applied evolutionary theory to explain why children form attachments to their caregivers. He proposed that within our ancestral environment, there existed a state of 'evolutionary adaptedness' where humans lived as hunter-gatherers. In these conditions, young children were vulnerable and at risk if they strayed too far from adults.
To ensure survival, children needed to maintain close proximity to an adult. Bowlby argued that attachment behaviours promoting this closeness developed as an innate mechanism through natural selection. These behaviours, such as crying, grasping and smiling, help ensure survival. Initially, babies show these behaviours indiscriminately, grasping at and crying when left alone by any adult. However, between six and nine months of age, they begin to show preference for one particular person, maintaining close proximity to this caregiver and monitoring their location.
Bowlby's evolutionary perspective represents a fundamental shift from earlier theories. Rather than viewing attachment as learned behaviour, he proposed that attachment is an innate biological mechanism that evolved specifically to protect vulnerable infants and ensure their survival.
Social releasers
Social releasers are innate behaviours that prompt a response from a baby's mother or carer. These behaviours help initiate proximity-seeking interactions. Examples include crying and smiling, which naturally elicit caregiving responses from adults. Bowlby identified these as the primary caregiver's behaviours that the child directs towards them, particularly when they are around three to six months old.
Social releasers work as a two-way system: the baby's behaviours (crying, smiling, grasping) trigger caregiving responses in adults, whilst the adult's responses reinforce the baby's attachment behaviours. This reciprocal interaction strengthens the attachment bond over time.
Stages of attachment
Bowlby described three distinct phases in attachment development:
Phase 1 (first few months): During this initial period, a baby responds indiscriminately towards any adult figure. The baby orients themselves towards adults using eye contact, tracking movements, grasping and smiling to promote proximity. A baby will gaze at an adult's face, and smiling becomes a social response after several weeks.
Phase 2 (around 3-6 months): The child begins to use social releasers, such as crying and smiling, to promote proximity. However, this behaviour is still directed primarily towards the main caregiver when the child is around three to six months old.
Phase 3 (around 6 months onwards): At approximately six months, the baby demonstrates intense attachment to the primary caregiver. The child maintains close proximity to the caregiver to establish a safe base for exploring the world. They show distress when separated and joy at reunion. They treat strangers with fear and use crying as a social releaser to alert others to their distress. This phase continues until the child reaches two or three years old.
Imprinting and attachment
Bowlby drew parallels between his research and animal studies, particularly Konrad Lorenz's work with greylag geese. Imprinting is a pre-programmed behaviour that creates a bond between an animal and its offspring to maintain close proximity. For example, ducklings follow their parent shortly after hatching.
Worked Example: Lorenz's Greylag Geese Experiment
Lorenz conducted experiments where greylag geese hatched in his presence. He observed that the chicks would instinctively follow the closest moving object they encountered and subsequently follow only this object whilst avoiding others.
Procedure:
- Separated hatching chicks into two groups
- One group exposed to the mother goose after hatching
- Another group exposed to Lorenz himself after hatching
Results:
- Chicks imprinted on whichever moving object they saw first
- The first group followed the mother goose
- The second group followed Lorenz
- Imprinting was most likely to occur during the first 12-24 hours of life
- If imprinting did not occur within 32 hours, the chick would not imprint at all
Conclusion: This demonstrated a critical period for imprinting beyond which it became irreversible.
Bowlby applied Lorenz's concept of imprinting to explain attachment in human babies. Whilst attachment in humans develops more slowly than in animals, the characteristics of attachment are similar to those of imprinting. Babies increasingly and selectively use social releasers towards a primary caregiver to promote proximity, and this occurs during the first year or so of life. Bowlby therefore described this as a sensitive rather than critical period.
Critical Period vs Sensitive Period
Bowlby made an important distinction between animal imprinting and human attachment:
- Critical period (animals): A fixed timeframe after which imprinting becomes impossible
- Sensitive period (humans): An optimal timeframe for attachment, but development can still occur outside this window
This distinction recognises that human development is more flexible than animal imprinting, though attachment formation is still most effective during the first year of life.
Safe base
Earlier theories of attachment, such as learning theories and Freudian ideas, were described as 'cupboard love' theories because they explained attachment as occurring due to the provision of food. Learning theories suggested that the mother becomes associated with providing food, which satisfies a biological need. However, Bowlby did not believe that such a complex emotional bond between child and caregiver could be explained by food alone.
Worked Example: Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Study
Harlow drew on research by Harry Harlow, who investigated attachment behaviours in rhesus monkeys. Harlow and Zimmermann (1959) conducted a pivotal experiment that challenged the 'cupboard love' theory.
Procedure:
- Isolated eight rhesus monkeys
- Provided each with two surrogate mothers:
- A cloth-covered surrogate (soft and comfortable)
- A wire surrogate (harsh and uncomfortable)
- Four monkeys were fed by the cloth mother
- Four monkeys were fed by the wire mother
Results:
- Monkeys preferred the cloth mother regardless of which one provided food
- Monkeys spent no more than two hours per day on the wire mother suckling for food
- Some monkeys observed leaning across from the cloth mother to the wire mother to suckle
- When exposed to fear-inducing stimuli, monkeys would cling to the cloth mother when fearful
- The cloth mother appeared to calm the monkey to the point where it could challenge the fearful object from its safe base
- Monkeys raised with the wire mother did not seek comfort from it and continued to be fearful
Conclusion: Harlow and Zimmermann claimed that 'contact comfort' was essential in the development of attachment, not food. This provided strong evidence against cupboard love theories and supported Bowlby's view of attachment as a complex emotional bond.
Nature-nurture debate
Bowlby's theory of attachment represents an evolutionary theory that explains attachment as a biological innate process based on adaptedness formed within our environment of evolutionary adaptedness. This suggests that we do not learn to attach but that imprinting to one caregiver is a natural part of development.
Prior to Bowlby's theory, learning theories suggested that we bond with a caregiver because of the food we associate with them. Classical conditioning described the mother figure as a neutral stimulus and milk as an unconditioned stimulus that provides pleasure as an unconditioned response. As we acquire milk from the mother figure, we learn to associate her with pleasure and she becomes a conditioned stimulus. Operant conditioning would explain that milk is a primary reinforcer that satisfies our drive for satiety. As the mother is associated with the provision of milk, she becomes a secondary reinforcer.
Contrasting Theoretical Perspectives
These theories contrast fundamentally with one another:
- Bowlby's theory (Nature): We attach as part of biological maturation - an innate, evolved mechanism
- Learning theories (Nurture): We bond through associating the mother with food as a learned response
This debate highlights the broader nature-nurture discussion in psychology, with Bowlby firmly positioning attachment on the nature side of the spectrum.
Monotropy
Based primarily on research conducted by Mary Ainsworth (1967), Bowlby identified several behaviours that children tend to display towards one particular person - namely the mother figure or primary caregiver. The child will vocalise more and smile more when interacting with the mother, continue to cry when nursed by others but stop crying for the mother, cry only when the mother leaves the room, fix their gaze on the mother, crawl and follow her, as well as many other mother-directed behaviours.
Ainsworth's observations revealed clear patterns of preferential behaviour towards one caregiver. These behaviours included:
- Increased vocalisation and smiling with the primary caregiver
- Differential crying responses (stopping for the mother, continuing with others)
- Selective separation anxiety (crying only when the mother leaves)
- Visual tracking and following behaviours directed at the mother
- Enhanced proximity-seeking specifically towards the primary caregiver
Bowlby argued that, although multiple people may care for and be attached to a child, the principal caregiver of that child was the main attachment figure and the one to which the child formed a special bond. He also argued that the principal attachment figure was most likely, but not exclusively, to be the mother. Although substitute attachment figures could adopt the same role as the mother, he argued that they would be less able to attach than the natural mother because of hormonal influences and consistency of care following birth.
Bowlby named this bias of a child to attach to one person in particular monotropy.
Internal working model
Bowlby proposed that personality development into adulthood is defined by early attachment experiences that are mentally stored by the child. A child's experience of a continuous, loving and sensitive mother is formed as a mental representation - a memory or template of what relationships are like. This mental representation forms a basis for subsequent romantic relationships and attachments with their offspring.
A mother who provides a safe base helps to promote competence and resilience in later life. A sensitive-responsive mother builds a positive internal working model for a child to use in later adulthood relationships. Different experiences in childhood can have adverse consequences for later development, including less resilience and dependency.
The Internal Working Model Concept
The internal working model functions as a mental blueprint or template that influences:
- How we perceive ourselves in relationships
- What we expect from others in relationships
- How we behave in romantic relationships as adults
- How we form attachments with our own children
A positive internal working model develops when a child experiences consistent, sensitive and responsive caregiving, whilst a negative model may result from inconsistent or insensitive care.
Evaluation
Evaluation of monotropy
The concept of monotropy has been debated. Bowlby claimed a child was more likely to attach to the mother figure and that, although the child has multiple attachments after a certain age, this mother-child relationship was qualitatively different from others.
Research Evidence: Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson conducted a longitudinal study of 60 Glaswegian babies at monthly intervals over the first 18 months of life. Observing the children within their family homes, they found:
Key Findings:
- 17 per cent of babies had formed multiple attachments as soon as attachment behaviours were displayed
- By four months, half of the babies had formed more than one attachment, with some forming up to five attachments
- At 18 months, only 13 per cent of children with a single attachment had maintained this exclusivity
Initial Interpretation: On the face of it, this research appears to disprove the concept of monotropy as children were able to form multiple attachments at a very young age.
However: Schaffer and Emerson found that babies protested more intensely at separation from one particular attachment figure than others. This suggests that attachments could be arranged in hierarchical order, which seems to support the concept of the monotropic bond being qualitatively different from other attachments.
Additional Finding: The principal attachment figure for babies in the Glasgow study was the natural mother. However, this finding was largely a product of the sample used, whereby the mother was typically the one who reared the child.
Social control implications
Bowlby's theory of attachment remains influential as an explanation of attachment in developmental psychology. It has made positive contributions to the development of new hospital procedures ensuring that visiting times and access rights of parents to hospitalised children were increased. It has also contributed positively to childcare practices to avoid bond disruption. As we will see later in this section, day care now carefully considers the nature of substitute care, and child-carer ratios are set by government.
The Double-Edged Legacy
However, the legacy of Bowlby is knowledge that even temporary separation can have adverse effects on attachment. This has led to working mothers feeling guilty for having to leave their children in day care. This psychological knowledge can still be felt today, as women continue to feel anxiety about using day care and balancing their home and work environments.
This highlights how psychological theories can have unintended social consequences, sometimes reinforcing traditional gender roles and creating pressure on mothers who need or choose to work.
Child and adult attachments
Support for the internal working model comes from correlatory research into attachment types as a child and later adult attachments. Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver (1987) tested whether early attachments formed a template or model for later romantic relationships. They used a questionnaire known as the 'Love Quiz', which consisted of questions related to recall of childhood relationships with parents and questions about individual beliefs about romantic relationships.
The Love Quiz Study: Method and Findings
Method:
- The quiz was published in a local newspaper and responses invited
- Researchers classified the recall of 620 replies of child-parent relationships as securely attached or insecurely attached
- Related this to the individuals' beliefs about romantic love
Results:
- Respondents classified as having secure child-parent relationships were more likely to hold beliefs that romantic relationships were trusting, enduring and accepting of partners' faults
- Insecurely classified respondents tended to believe romantic relationships were either based on obsession, attraction and jealousy or that they feared intimacy and did not need love
Interpretation: The correlation between early and later attachments provides evidence to support Bowlby's idea that first relationships form an internal working model on which subsequent relationships are based.
However, this correlatory evidence does not mean that early attachment causes later attachment style, and people did change their attachment as they grew older. It is also based on recall of child-parent relationships, which may not be reliable. Other researchers have also found an association between early and adult attachment types (Feeney and Noller, 1990; Keelan, Dion and Dion, 1994), and in a replication of the Love Quiz (Hazan and Shaver, 1993) a similar but more modest correlation was found.
Individual differences in attachment
An alternative explanation for the association between childhood and adulthood attachment styles suggests that the temperament of the individual, rather than the internal working model per se, should be considered. Kagan's (1984) temperament hypothesis suggests that the innate individual temperament of a child can dictate whether a secure or insecure attachment is formed, which has little to do with the formation of an internal working model. A child with a difficult temperament will impact on the quality of the relationship formed with a parent. Equally, this temperament can influence subsequent relationships. It is the individual temperament, and not the internal working model, that affects the quality of relationships.
Alternative Explanation: The Temperament Hypothesis
Kagan's perspective challenges Bowlby's internal working model by suggesting:
- Attachment quality may be determined by innate temperament rather than learned mental models
- A child's temperament affects both early parent-child relationships and later adult relationships
- The continuity in relationship quality across the lifespan may reflect stable temperament rather than the influence of early experiences
This represents an important nature-based alternative to Bowlby's explanation for attachment continuity.
Limitations of animal research
Bowlby based much of his theoretical work on research using animals. Harlow and Zimmermann (1959) showed that rhesus monkeys attached innately to a cloth mother to secure a safe base, and Lorenz's research into greylag geese helped Bowlby formulate his idea of a sensitive period. However, we should be mindful that animal research, although supporting the concept of an evolutionary basis for attachment, may not be wholly applicable to human development.
Generalisability from Animals to Humans
Whilst animal research provides valuable insights into attachment:
- Evolutionary mechanisms in animals may differ from those in humans
- Human attachment develops over a much longer timeframe than animal imprinting
- Humans have more complex cognitive abilities that influence attachment formation
- Cultural and social factors play a larger role in human attachment than in animal bonding
Therefore, whilst animal studies support the biological basis of attachment, we must be cautious about directly applying findings from geese and monkeys to human infants.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
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Evolutionary basis: Bowlby proposed that attachment is an innate process that evolved to ensure survival by maintaining proximity between infant and caregiver.
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Three stages: Attachment develops through three phases - indiscriminate attachment (first few months), preference for primary caregiver (3-6 months), and specific attachment with separation anxiety (6+ months).
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Monotropy: Bowlby argued that infants have a bias to form one special attachment bond, typically with the mother figure, which is qualitatively different from other attachments.
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Internal working model: Early attachment experiences create a mental template that influences the quality of later relationships in adulthood.
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Critical evaluation: Whilst Bowlby's theory has been influential in improving childcare practices, research by Schaffer and Emerson suggests children can form multiple attachments earlier than Bowlby proposed, and animal research may not fully apply to human development.