11 - The Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood Relationships Flashcards
What study investigated effects of attachment on childhood relationships?
Minnesota Parent - Child Project
It began in 1975 and they continue to be studied today
What was the procedure?
The mothers and children’s behaviour has been assessed using questionnaires and observations.
E.g. The mothers and children were videotaped while playing for a period of 10-15 minutes at home.
The mothers were aware that they were being videotaped.
Two observers analysed the recordings.
What were the findings?
As children, infants who were securely attached were :
- rated the highest for social competence
- less socially isolated
- more popular with their peers
- more empathetic
Why does an infants attachment style affect their childhood relationships?
Their early attachment created an internal working model of what relationships are, how partners in a relationship behave towards each other and what they should expect of a relationship.
Those who are securely attached will have a positive working model for relationships and so are better at forming and maintaining relationships with others.
What are the advantages of this study?
It is reliable. Other psychologists found similar results; they assessed infant attachment styles at one year of age. Researchers found that children who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children and were closer to their friends aged 16.
What are the negatives of this research?
It suggests that early experiences have a fixed effect on later childhood relationships and therefore children who are insecurely attached as infants are doomed to experience emotionally unsatisfactory relationships as children. It is therefore deterministic ( doesn’t take into account people’s free will to make conscious decisions about their behaviour ).
There is a lot of research which contradicts the claim that early attachment affects later childhood relationships. It was found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents.
