Attachment: Lesson 12 - The Influencs Of Early Attachmeny On Adult Relationships

Question 1

What is the procedure of Hazan and Shaver (1987)?

Answer 1

• Hazan and Shaver placed a ‘Love Quiz’ in the Rocky Mountain News(an American small-town newspaper)
• The quiz asked questions about their relationship with their parents (to identify infant attachment style), attitudes towards love (to assesstheir internal working model), and their current relationship experiences (to determine their current attachment style)
• They analysed 620 responses, 205 from men and 415 from women,from a fair cross-section of the population

Question 2

What is the findings of Hazan and Shaver (1987)?

Answer 2

• When analysing adult attachment they found that the prevalence of adult attachment styles was similar to those found in infancy
• 56% were classified secure, 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant
• This suggests that most people’s infantattachment styles are the same as their adult attachment style
• They also found a positive correlation between adult attachment style and love experiences
• Securely attached adults described their love experiences as happy, friendly and trusting
• They emphasised being able to accept and support their partner despite faults
• These relationships were most enduring –ten years on average compared six years for avoidant and five years for resistant
• Finally they found a relationship between internal working modeland adultattachment style –securely attached individuals tended to have a positive internal working model

Question 3

Evaluation of Hazan and Shaver(1987) (unreliable) (-)

Answer 3

This study is unreliable, several other studies have failed to find the strong correlation between infant attachment style and adult attachment style. Fraley (2002) conducted a review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later reassessed (ranging from one month to 20 yearslater). He found correlations ranging from .5 to as low as .1

Question 4

Evaluation of Hazan and Shaver(1987) (correlation vs experimental) (-)

Answer 4

• This studyis correlational rather than experimental and therefore we cannot determine cause and effect
• It is impossible to say that infantattachments determine adult relationships
• It could be that there is a third variable that affects both, such as a person’s innate temperament

Question 5

Evaluation of Hazan and Shaver(1987) (valid) (-)

Answer 5

• This study relies on participants’ memories about their early lives in order to assess their infantattachment style
• Such recollections are likely to be flawed because our memories of the past are not always accurate, makingthe study not valid