influence of early attachment on later relationships Flashcards
internal working model
quality of a child’s first attachment is crucial because this template will powerfully affect the nature of their future relationships
child whose first experience is of a loving relationship, will tend to assume that this is how relationships are meant to be
secure attachment (childhood behaviour)
very likely to be involved in bullying
insecure resistant (childhood behaviour)
children were the most likely to be victims
insecure avoidant (childhood behaviour
children were more likel to be bullied
aim hazen and shaver
conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships
procedure hazen and shaver
analysed 620 replies to a love quiz printed in an American newspaper
quiz had 3 sections
1.current relationship/ most important relationship
2.number of partners
3.asking respondents to choose which of three statements best describe their feelings
findings hazen and shaver
56% of respondents were identified as securely attached
25% insecure avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant
the avoidant repondenets tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy
relationships in adulthood
bailey et al assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies
assessed mothers quality of attachment with child using standardised interview procedures
assessed child’s attachment to mother using observations
weakness-evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed
internal working models predict continuity between the security of an infants attachment and that of its later relationships
evidence for this continuity is mixed for example some studies do appear to support continuity
weakness-research lacks validity
most of the studies of the influences of early attachment on later relationships lack validity
e.g many assessments of early attachment and current day attachments rely on the use of questionnaires and interviews
weakness-association does not mean causality
in those studies where infant attachment type is associated with the quality of later relationships the implication is that infant attachment type causes the attachment
weakness-self report is concisions but internal working models are not
there is a theoretical problem with most research related to internal working models for example internal working models are unconscious we are not directly aware of their influence on us