4.1.3 - influence of early attachment

Question 1

What does the iwm suggest about the influence of early attachments

Answer 1

-According to Bowlby, the attachment a child has with its primary caregiver provides the infant with a schema and template for future relationships.
-This will determine if the child loves, trusts and relies on others and the health of future relationships.

Question 2

What is the continuinity hypothesis

Answer 2

Suggests future relationships will follow the pattern based on this template, impacting childhood relationships, adult relationships and even their relationships with their own children.

Question 3

What does iwm suggest about a secure attachment

Answer 3

When a child has a secure loving relationship with their primary caregiver, they will assume all relationships should be like that and will seek out functional relationships and be functional within these relationships

Question 4

What does the iwm imply about insecure avoidant attachments

Answer 4

Emotionally Closed and/or uninvolved in their relationships, making it difficult to form secure attachments

Question 5

What does the iwm suggest about insecure resistant attachments

Answer 5

Controlling and argumentative in their relationships, making it difficult to form secure attachments

Question 6

What did Hazan and shaver conduct

Answer 6

Conducted a ‘love quiz’ study, they asked people to respond to a love quiz in the newspaper,

Question 7

What was the procedure of Hazan and shaver

Answer 7

• ppts answered the love quiz which examined their feelings in a romantic relationship
• ppts also answered a questionnaire about their childhood attachment with their parents
• ppts were split into 3 groups ( secure avoidant and anxious ) based off of childhood relationships

Question 8

Hazan and shaver findings

Answer 8

• They found a correlation between adult relationships and attachment types:
• Securely attached adults believe in long-lasting love and were less likely to get divorced
• Whereas insecure types were more likely to report loneliness
• This suggests there is a link between childhood attachment and adult relationships

Question 9

What did McCarthy investigate

Answer 9

The influence of early attachment types on later relationships

Question 10

What was mccarthys procedure & findings

Answer 10

• Studied 40 adult women who had been assessed as children in their early attachment types
• Those who had been assessed as securely attached as infants had the most secure and ‘best’ adult friendships and relationships
• Those who had been assessed as insecure and resistant as infants, struggled to maintain friendships
• Those who had been assessed as insecure-avoidant, struggled with intimate relationships
• This research supports the work of Bowlby and Hazan and Shaver

Question 11

A03: real life application

Answer 11

• Understanding why a child or adult may be struggling due to their attachment type allows those working with them, to support them better.
• This may help those who were not securely attached, reach relationship stability as they grow older.

Question 12

A03: self report techniques

Answer 12

Limitation
- social desirability bias, decreases the validity of the studies
- There may also be bias in the type of person who replies to adverts in newspapers, could attract those experiencing a breakup who wanted support.

Question 13

A03: not causation

Answer 13

Correlation isn’t causation
- cause effect relationship is difficult to obtain due to the multiple extraneous and confounding variables