Influence of early attachment on childhood Flashcards
What is the continuity hypothesis?
The idea that there is a consistency between early emotional experiences and later relationships
What becomes a template for future relationships?
The internal working model
Who creates the template of the internal working model?
Primary caregivers in childhood
What did Youngblade and Belsky (1992) find?
That 3-5 year old securely attached children were more curious, competent, empathetic resilient and self-confident, got along better with other children and were more likely to go on to form close friendships.
What did Mullis et al (1999) find?
They reported that in late childhood attachments that are made to peers reflect those made with parents in infancy.
What did Laible (2000) find?
Found that in late childhood, individuals transfer attachment behaviours learned in childhood to social situations and peer groups - supporting the idea of continuity from early attachments and the internal working model
What did Westermack (1891) find?
Reported that children who form close relationships in their first six years of their life did not go on to form adult sexual relationships with each other
What did Shepher (1971) find?
Examined 3000 Israeli marriage records to find that no children reared together on a kibbutz got married to each other, supporting Westermack’s findings
What do the attachments formed between infants and their carers have a large influence on? (eval)
Determining the quality of subsequence childhood relationships with those forming secure attachments seeming to profit best in terms of developing positive personal characteristics and social abilities
What can early attachment types affect the development of? (eval)
individual differences in cognitive ability
emotional responses
social skills
Can this theory be seen as deterministic? (Eval)
Yes
viewing the quality of later relationships as being caused solely by the quality of early attachments is deterministic as it doesn’t take into other accounts which may have influenced such as financial pressures of a difference in age
What is the fact that children who had early attachments not going on to form sexual relationships seen as?
An anti-incest evolutionary device to prevent breeding to those you are related to
