Saturday, March 6, 2010

From Monotropy to Monogamous Love

Many parallels can be drawn between monotropy (a suggestion by John Bowlby that a child is genetically programmed to form an attachment to a single primary caregiver in order to achieve a healthy development.) and monogamous love.
In fact, an idea occurs to me that monogamous love could be the second stage of monotropy, knowing that one day our single caregiver will die- we need someone to sustain our emotional well-being for the rest of our lives. Maybe the four components of attachment can explain it.

Proximity Maintenance: As with babies displaying proximity-promoting behaviours such as smiling and crying, the adults do so by flirting with their chosen potential partners so to encourage them to get close to them. After an attachment is formed, they yearn to remain close to the one they attach to.
Safe Haven: While children tend to cling to their attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of fear and threat, adults do so too. When they feel threatened, their partners are the only ones they could think of for comfort.
Secure Base: For children, attachment figure acts as a base of security from which they can explore and face the world confidently. Through them that the children are able to form attachments with other people. Same goes to adult. Maybe being too secure will lead them to stray into polygamy, where they find the pleasure of being loved and cared about. Feeling insecure too will lead to the same path, as adults tend to jump from one relationship to another to find their 'home'.
Separation Distress: Infants and small children feel anxious in the absence of their caregiver. As with adults, they feel sad and nostalgic.

P/s: Human babies do not imprint on their parents, yet it is suggestable that adults 'imprint' on their partners in the form of imitating their body language unintentionally (as in the long term, imprinting is used for mating ). Maybe babies do not imprint as they need to develop their individuality, as it is fully formed in adulthood, they do so so that they are able to cooperate and be more agreeable with their partners in solving issues when they live together.

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