ATTACHMENT-The influence of early attachment Flashcards
What is the role of the internal working model in early attachments?
-An infant learns about a relationship from experience
-The infant learns what a relationship is and how people with attachments behave towards each other
Who conducted a study on this in 1987?
-Hazah and Shaver
What was the aim of their experiment?
-To test the internal working model
What was the procedure?
-Placed a love quiz in the Rocky Moutin news
-The quiz asked questions about current attachments and attachment history to identify current and childhood attachment types
-Also had questions about attitudes towards love
-This was an assessment of the internal working model
-They analysed 620 responses,205 from men and 415 from women from across the population
What were the findings of the study?
-When analysing the self report of attachment history they found that the prevalance of attachment styles were similar to that in infancy
-56% were secure,25% avoidant and 19% resistant
-Found a positive correlation between attachment and love experiments
-Securely attached adults descrivbed their love experiences as happy, friendly and trusting (they emphasised being able to accept and support their partner despite faults)
-These relationships were more enduring and lasted an average of 10 years in comparison to 5/6 for resistant and avoidant attachments
-People who were securely attached had a positive internal working model
-positive correlation between attachment style and romantic relationship
What did the Minessota child-parent study find?
-Continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behaviour
-Individuals who were classified as securely attached in infancy were highest rated for social competence later in childhood and were less isolated, more empathetic and popular
How can the findings of the Minnesota study be explained by the internal working model?
-Securely attached children have high expectations that others are friendly and trusting and this would enable easier relationships with others
How does poor parenting affect attachments? Reference Harlow, Quinton et al and the internal working model
-Harlows research with monkeys also demonstrated a link between poor attachments and later difficulties with parenting
-Quinton et al showed that the same is true in humans
-The lack of an internal working model means that individuals lack a reference point to form relationships with their children
How does a lack of attachments affect mental health?
-Children with attachment disorder lack a preferred attachment figure, an inability to interact with others which is prevalent from the age of 5 (this is due to severe neglect or frequent change in caregivers)
Give a strength (understanding) how to support people with different attachment types
Understanding why a child or adult may be struggling due to their attachment type allows those working with them, to support them betterThis may help those who were not securely attached, reach relationship stability as they grow older
Give a strength (supporting evidence)
-Minnesota parent-child study
Limitations
Self-report techniques, which were used, can be less valid as participants may under or over-exaggerate
There may also be bias in the type of person who replies to adverts in newspapers: e.g. people who had recently suffered a bad break-up and wished to vent their feelings
It is difficult to establish a cause and effect as it is a correlation: further research would be required
Who came up with the internal working model?
Bowlby
What does the internal working model suggest?
An infant’s first attachment figure provides a template for understanding future relationships
An infant whose first experience of a relationship is loving and nurturing will likely form healthy attachment relationships later on in life as this is their assumption of relationships and attachment, what attachment type are they most likely to have?
Secure
An infant who has a negative relationship with their primary attachment figure may mean they find it difficult to form healthy and functional relationships, whatr types of attachment are they msot likely to have?
-Insecure- avoidant
-Insecure- resistant
Give a strength
-longitudinal studies support the idea that early attachment influences later relationships
-A longitudinal study found that participants who were securely attached as infants went on to have higher social-emotional skills, formed closer friendships with their peers, and were able to express emotions healthily in relationships
-This provides supporting evidence that attachment types in infants predict relationships in adult life
Give a limitation (retrospective assesment)
-One limitation of research into the influence of early attachment is that it relies on retrospective assessment
-Most of the studies involve assessing adult participants through questions about their early life, relationships with parents, peers and partners
-Childhood attachment types are then identified from these findings
-This method lowers the validity of the findings:
-Participants may not be honest in their responses or may not have accurate memories of their childhood
-It raises the question as to whether child attachment is being assessed or adult attachment
Give a limitation (confounding variables)
-There are confounding variables involved in the assessment of attachment types
-Confounding variables may lower the validity of the findings, e.g.
-attachment quality in childhood may be affected by genetic influences such as personality type
-parenting styles may influence attachment types and also affect the quality of relationships later in life
-infant temperament may affect the way a parent responds and so influence attachment bonds; this may also affect later relationships
