Influence of Early Attachment in Later Relationships

Question 1

What is an internal working model + how does it affect relationships?

Answer 1

A mental representation of the world that an individual develops based on early experiences

(affects our future relationships as it carries our perception of what relationships are like)

Question 2

Why is a healthy first attachment crucial for later relationships?

Answer 2

• A baby who first experiences a loving relationship with reliable attachment will assume that is how relationships are meant to be
• They will seek out functional relationships + behave functionally within them

Question 3

What is the impact of a poor first attachment?

Answer 3

• A child with a bad experience in their first attachment will bring the bad experiences to later relationships
• e.g will struggle to form relationships, behave inappropriately within their relationships

Question 4

What did Myron-WIlson and Smith find about attachment and bullying?

Answer 4

• Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement
• Questionnaires in 192 children from London (aged 7-11)
• Securely children unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure-avoidant most likely to be victims, insecure-resistant most likely to be bullies

Question 5

Describe Hazan and Shaver’s ‘love quiz’ study

Answer 5

• Analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ in a local American newspaper
• 1st section: assessed respondents current/most important relationship
• 2nd section: assessed general love experiences e.g no. of partners
• 3rd section: assessed attachment type by asking respondents which 3 statements best described their feelings
• Those reporting secure attachment = most likely to have good/longer lasting romantic experiences
• Avoidant respondents = tend to reveal jealousy/fear of intimacy

Question 6

What did Bailey et al find about internal working model and future parenting ability?

Answer 6

• Considered attachment of 99 mothers to their own babies
• Mother-baby attachment assessed using strange situation
• Mothers attachment to own mother assessed using adult attachment interview
• Majority of women had same attachament classification to both their babies and their own mother

Question 7

What is the link between attachment type and quality of relationships in childhood?

Answer 7

• Securely attached babies tend to form the best quality friendships in childhood. Whereas insecurely attached later have friendship difficulties

Question 8

One strength of research into attachment and later relationships

Answer 8

Research support:
- Reviews have concluded early attachment consistently predicts later attachment, well-being, attachment to own children
- Link between attachment type and development depends on attachment type
- Secure attachment as a baby = advantages for future development while disorganised attachment = disadvantages e.g later mental disorder

Question 9

Two limitations of research into attachment and later relationships

Answer 9

Validity issues with retrospective studies:
- Early attachment assessed retrospectively (looking back)
- Most research on the link is not longitudinal
- Instead researchers ask adolescents/adult participants questions about relationship with parents
- Can hinder validity = questions rely on honesty/accurate perception of participants, difficult to distingiish between assessment of early attachment or adult attachment

Confounding variables:
- Studies assessing infancy may have validity problems
- Association between attachment quality and later relationships may be confounded e.g by parenting style, genetically-influenced personality
- Cannot be sure it is attachment and not another factor influencing later development