Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

Question 1

What does the continuity hypothesis propose?

Answer 1

The type of attachment we have in infancy will remain constant throughout our lives and will characterise all later childhood and adult relationships.

Question 2

What does our internal working model consist of?

Answer 2

The self - are we loveable
Others - are they trustworthy
relationships - what are our expectations

Question 3

What does Bowlby propose about attachment and childhood relationships?

Answer 3

Children’s attachment in infancy will shape childhood relationships
Secure attached infants will seek out adaptive and functional childhood relationships.
Infants with disconnected attachments will struggle to form childhood friends.

Question 4

What did the research from Myron Wilson and Smith show?

Answer 4

Insecurely attached infants have later friendship difficulties. Securely attached infants will have closer friendships with peers, greater emotional and social competence in adolescents and more reciprocal friendships.

Question 5

What are securely attached infants like in adulthood?

Answer 5

Empathetic, able to create meaningful relationships, high self-esteem

Question 6

What are insecure avoidant infants like in adulthood?

Answer 6

Problems with intimacy, invests little in emotional relationships, unwilling to share feelings.

Question 7

What are insecure resistant infants like in adulthood?

Answer 7

Avoids closeness, worries that partner doesn’t love them, distraught when relationships end.

Question 8

Is there research to support the influence of attachment types on childhood relationships?

Answer 8

Kerns found that securely attached infants go on to form quality childhood relationships whereas insecurely attached have relationship difficulties

Question 9

Is there research to support the influence of early attachment on adult relationships?

Answer 9

Hazen and Shaver love quiz published in the Rocky Mountain news got 620 replies.
Secure attachments (56%) were more likely to have happy, lasting, trusting relationships
Insecure resistant (19%) worried they were not loved
Insecure avoidant (25%) typically feared intimacy

Question 10

Is there methodological problems with the love quiz supporting the influence of early attachments?

Answer 10

Questionnaires are easy to lie on

Question 11

Is the research into the influence of early attachments reductionist?

Answer 11

Reduces complexity of relationships into just parental and ignores social influence on relationships + puberty

Question 12

Are there practical applications of the research into the early relationships?

Answer 12

Encourages the formation of secure attachments and shows the need for foster and adoptive parents