4.7 The influence of attachment on later relationships

Question 1

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 1

The CH sees child att types as being reflected in their later Rships - based on internal working model

Question 2

How will a poor childhood attachment affect their later relationships?

Answer 2

A child whose first experience is of a loving Rship w reliable caregiver will expect this of later Rships

A child w bad experiences of their first att will bring these to later Rships - may struggle to form Rships in the first place or be too emotionally close or distant

Question 3

What behaviour can childhood attachment type predict?

Answer 3

Bullying can be predicted from att type - research shows S children were v unlikely to be involved in bullying - IA the most likely to be victims - IR most likely to be bullies

Question 4

How does childhood attachment affect parenting ability?

Answer 4

People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so att types tend to be passed down through families - Bailey et al found maj of women had same att type to their babies as they had w their own mothers

Question 5

What research has been done into childhood attachment and later adult relationships?

Answer 5

Hazan & Shaver conducted study into association between attachment and adult Rships

Question 6

What was Hazan & Shaver’s procedure?

Answer 6

Analysed 620 replies to a ‘Love Quiz’ printed in a local American newspaper

Quiz involved assessing respondents’ current or most important Rships, general love experiences e.g. no. partners, and attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of 3 statements best reflected their feelings

Question 7

What did Hazan & Shaver find?

Answer 7

• 56% secure - most likely to have good and longe-lasting Rships
• 25% ins-av - tended to jealous and doubtful about durability of romantic love
• 19% ins-res - most vulnerable to loneliness

Question 8

What did Hazan & Shaver conclude?

Answer 8

• Proportion of att types matches those in Ainsworth’s SS

* Adults’ mental models differed depending on att - S attached ppl optimistic, IA/R attached ppl pessimistic

Question 9

What reduces support for research into the influence of early attachment on later relationships?

Answer 9

• Mixed evidence into continuity of att type - int working model suggests continuity between security of initial att to later ones - Zimmerman suggests infant att type and quality of adolescent att to parents unrelated - found v little Rship between quality of such att types - contradicts role of int working model being important in development of childhood & adult Rships
• Correlational supportive research - much research linking influence of att on later Rships - and therefore role of int model - is correlational - therefore cannot determine causality - Fraley et al found correlations were not always strong +ve ones either - supportive research unreliable
• Issues w self-report - much research into assessing att type retrospectively - e.g. Hazan & Shaver - relies upon self-report from adult Pps abut memories from childhood - relies on accurate recollections - memories likely to have deteriorated - lacks internal validity - also relies on honest retrospection and interpretation of quality of att from researcher
• Deterministic attitude of research - research into impact of att on later Rships has set views on outcomes of future behav - presents deterministic view of behav - suggests infant’s early experiences will have severe consequences on adult behavs - not all psychologists agree (e.g. humanistic psychologists) - many argue humans have free will and ability to overcome -ve childhood experiences to form +ve adult ones