Attachment: Infleunce On Early Attachments On Later Relationships Flashcards
Outline the internal working model
- acts as a template for future relationships
- a child whose first experience of a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver will tend to assume that this is how relationships are meant to be
- they will seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them
How is attachment type associated with relationships in later childhood
- securely attached infants form best quality childhood friendships,insecurely attached infants laters have friendship difficulties
- bullying behaviour can be predicated with attachment type: Myron Wilson + smith - assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using questionnaires in children aged 7-11 in London.
- insecure avoidant most likely to be victims, insecure resistant most likely to be bullies
Outline McCarthy’s study on the relationship between attachment type and later romantic relationships
- studied 40 adult women Who had been assessed when they were infants to establish their attachment type
- those who were securely attached had best romantic relationships + adult friendships
- those who wee insecure avoidant - struggled with intimacy
- those who were insecure resistant - problems maintains friendships
Outline the procedure of Hazan and Shaver’s study on the relationship between attachment type and later romantic relationships
- analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper
- quiz had 3 sections: the first assessing respondents current relationship, their second assessed general love experiences, the third assessed attachment type
Outline the results of Hassan and shaver’s study
- 56% securely attached, followed by insecure avoidant and then insecure resistant
- secure attachments - most likely to have good/long lasting romantic relationships
- avoidants - revealed feelings of jealousy and fear of intimacy
Outline the effect of the internal working model on relationships in adulthood as a parent
- internal working models affect the child’s ability to parent their own children
- in bailey et als study - majority of women had the same attachment classification to their babies as to their own mothers
What are the three evaluation points for the influence of early attachments on later relationships
- evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed
- most studies have issues of validity
- association does not mean causality
Outline ‘evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed’ as an evaluation point for influence of early attachments on later relationships
- internal working models predict continuity between security of an infants attachment and that of its later relationships
- some studies contradict ideas of the internal working model
- Zimmerman - assessed infant attachment types + adolescent attachment to parents, there was little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachment
Outline ‘most studies have issues of validity’ as an evaluation point for influence of early attachments on later relationships
- most studies assess infant -parent attachment by means of interview/questionnaire, not in infancy but years later
- this creates validity problems - assessments rely on self report techniques, also looking back in adulthood at one’s early relationship relies on accurate recollection
Outline ‘association does not mean causality’ as an evaluation point for influence of early attachments on later relationships
- in studies where infant attachment type is associated with the quality of later relationships, it is implied that the infant attachment type causes the later attachment
- however, there are alternative explanations between the continuity that exist between infant and altered relationships
-parenting style/child’s temperament may influence infant attachment + later attachment
