ATTACHMENT: Influence of early attachment on later relationships Flashcards
Internal Working Model suggests a baby’s first …
relationship with primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of the relationship
IWM acts as a template for
future childhood and adult relationships
quality of a babies first attchment crucial as
this template affects the nature of their future relationships
a babeis first experience of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure tends to assume
this is how all relationships should be
a babeis first experience of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure tends to seek out and behave
functional relationships and behave functionally
what type of behaviour do insecure avoidant attachments show
uninvolved in relationship or emotionally unavailable
what type of behaviour do insecure resistant attachments show
controlling
argumentative
a child with bad experiences in a relationship will bring
bad experiences to bear on later relationships
a child with bad experiences in a relationship will struggle to
form relationships in the first place
child with bad experiences in a relationship will display what type of behaviour
inapproporiate behaviour showing insecure resitant/avoidant behaviour to friends and family
attachment types associated with what in childhood
qusality of peer relationships in childhood
securley attached babies tend to form the…
best quality chilhood friendships
insecurley attached babies later have ..
friendship difficulties
What else can be predicted by attachment type
bullying
What did Myron Wilson and Smith assess
attachment types and bullying involvement
How did Myron Wilson and Smith assess bullying involvement and attachment type
standard questionnaires
What was the sample size of Myron - Wilson
196 children Londoners
What was the sample age of Myron - Wilson
7-11 year olds
how likely are securley attached to be involved in bullying
unlikely
Who’s most likely to be a victim of bullying
insecure avoidant
Who’s most likely to be the bully
insecure resistant
IWM affect which two adult experiences
romantic relationships
parental relationships w their own kids
Hazan and Shaver conducted a what type of study
classical study
Hazan and Shaver conducted a classical study on
association between attachment and adult relationships
how many love quiz replies did they analyse
620
Where was the love quiz printed
an american local newspaper
Love Quiz - How many sections did the quiz have
3
Love Quiz - The first section assessed
respondents current or most important relationship
Love Quiz - The second section assessed
general love experiences such as number of partners
Love Quiz - the third section assessed
attachment types
Love Quiz - How did the third section asses attachment types
asked repsondents to choose which statement best described their feelings
Love Quiz - What percentage of repsondents identified as securley attached
56%
Love Quiz - What percentage of respondents identified as insecure avoidant
25%
Love Quiz - What percentage of respondents identidied as insecure resitant
19%
Love Quiz - those reporting as secure attachment most likely to have
good and longer lasting romantic experiences
Love Quiz - avoidant attachmentents tended to reveal …
jealousy and fear of intimacy
Findings of the Love Quiz - suggest
patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
Who did Mcarthy study
40 women who had been assessed when they were babies
why were the 40 women assesed when they were babeis
to establish their early attachment type
those assesed as securley attached had the best
adult and romantic relationships
Adults classed as IR babies had particular problems…
mantaining friendships
the women classed as IA struggled with
intimacy in romantic relationships
People’s parenting style is based on
IWM
As people’s parenting styles based IWM this means attachment types …
tend to be passed on through generations of a family
Bailey et al considered the attachment types of
99 mothers to their babies and own mothers
How did Bailey assess mother attachment types to their babies
strange situation
How did Bailey assess mother attachment types to their mothers
used an adult attachment interview
results : the majority of women had the same
attachment type to their babies as tthey did to their mothers
eval deterministm
The internal working model is also significantly deterministic as it believes that the behaviour in adult
relationships is pre-determined by childhood experiences and thus leaves no room for free will. It also does not
allow for the fact that some individuals do experience positive adult relationships despite being insecurely
attached in childhood which would show that these children have clearly emphasised their free will and worked
to develop healthy relationships instead of their fate having been determined by their childhood environment.
research - validity issues
Research got validity issues
Self report techniques that are v reulalry used
Use of retrospective data
Most studies dont acc use the strange situation to assess infant parent attachment - but use interviews and questionaniers - and theyre often conducted years after infancy
This poses numerorus problems e.g self report techniques rely on pt being honest with researcehr but also having realistic view of their relationship with their parent /parent which is difficult to achieve
Youre asking someone q about something that happened years ago , gotta look back and try rremebr accuratley the nature of their attahcemnt to their parent - this relies on v accurate recollections and its not a very valid wy of collecting research -
Which decreases internal validity
RESEARCH IS INCOLCUSIVE
So IWM predicts attachment type in infancy is usually the same as the one that characterises persons later relationships
However attachment research is inconclusive on this particular issue - youve got people like mccarthy who provide evidence to support IWM
Also got people like zimmerman who dont support it - assessed infants attachment type and adolescent attachments to parents and found there was very little relationship between infant and adolescent attachment
This is a problem as not what we expect if IWM was important in development and had a strong effect on later relationships
