Influence of early attachment on adult relationships Flashcards
two theories/ studies
- Bowlby’s theory of monotropy
- Hazan + Shaver’s study
Bowlby’s Monotropic theory
- argued that infants will have one special emotional bond = monotropy
- infant uses monotropy/ this relationship to form a mental view of relationships = internal working model
- secure relationships ensure a positive working model
= means that current, future + romantic adult relationships will be positive + secure - the continuity hypothesis = individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially + emotionally competent, due to positive internal working model
disads of Bowlby’s Monotropic theory
- multiple attachments
- socially sensitive
- adopted children
- multiple attachments - disads of Bowlby’s Monotropic theory
- Schaffer + Emerson suggest that multiple attachments are more common in babies than monotropy
= found that by 18 months, only 13% of infants had only one person they were attached to
socially sensitive - disads of Bowlby’s Monotropic theory
- feminists like Erica Burman have pointed out that the idea of monotropy is socially sensitive
- places too much responsibility on mothers = take the blame for anything that goes wrong in their child’s life
- puts pressure on mums to stay home + give up their careers
- also underestimates the role of the father = primarily economic role
= outdated + sexist view
= doesn’t apply now where both parents are equally responsible for childcare
adopted children - disads of Bowlby’s Monotropic theory
- Tizard + Hodges found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four + were then adopted = could still form attachments to their new adopted parents
= even though they would not have had a positive internal working model
procedure - Hazan + Shaver’s study
designed a study to test the connection between a person’s infant attachment style, their internal working model + their adult attachment style
- placed a ‘love quiz’ in the Rocky Mountain News
- quiz asked questions about their relationship w/ their parents
- attitudes towards love
- their current relationship experiences
- analyses 620 responses (415 - women, 205 - men)
findings - Hazan + Shaver’s study
when analysing adult attachment style:
- adult attachment styles were similar to infant attachment styles
- 56% = secure
- 25% insecure-avoidant
- 19% insecure-resistant
internal working model –> adult attachment style:
- adults w/ a positive internal working model tended to be securely attached adults
adult attachment styles –> love experiences:
- securely attached adults described their love experiences as happy, friendly + trusting
- these relationships were enduring (10 years on average)
- compared to 6 years for avoidant
- 5 years for resistant
disads of Hazan + Shaver’s study
- unreliable
- correlational
- memory recall
unreliable - disads of Hazan + Shaver’s study
- study is unreliable
- several other studies have failed to find the strong correlation between infant attachment style + adult attachment style
- psych conducted a review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy + later reassessed (one month - 20 years later)
- found correlations ranging from 0.5 to as low as 0.1
correlational - disads of Hazan + Shaver’s study
- study is correlational rather than experimental
= cannot determine cause + effect - impossible to say that infant attachment style determines adult attachment style
- could be that there is a third variable that affects both e.g. person’s innate temperament
memory recall - disads of Hazan + Shaver’s study
- study relies on parts’ memories about their early lives in order to assess their infant attachment style
- recollections are likely to be flawed cus our memories of the past are not always accurate
= study is invalid
