Influence on early childhood Flashcards
What did Bowlby say about the internal working model?
The mental representations that we carry with us of our attachment to our primary caregiver. These affect our future relationships as they form our perception of what relationships are like.
Positive first attachment=positive future attachments.
Negative first attachment=negative future attachments
What are childhood relationships?
Affiliations with other people in childhood, including friends and classmates, and with adults such as teachers.
What are adulthood relationships?
Those relationships the child goes on to have later in life as an adult. These include friendships and working relationships but most critically relationships with romantic partners and the person’s own children.
What did Kerns (1994) find and conclude?
Kerns (1994) found that securely attached infants are more inclined to have good quality peer relationships during childhood whilst infants with insecure attachment types are likely to have difficulties with making or maintaining friendships.
Securely attached kid = good peer relationships (friendship)
Insecure = issues making/keeping friends
What did Myron Wilson and Smith (1998) do and find?
Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using self-report questionnaire in London.
Secure attachment - less likely to be involved with bullying.
Insecure-Resistant attachment - more likely to be the bully.
Insecure-Avoidant attachment - more likely to be bullied.
What did Sroufe et al (2005) do and find?
Conducted the Minnesota child–parent study and found that infants who were rated high in social competence during childhood were more empathetic, popular and felt less isolated.
These results can be easily understood by considering the role of the internal working model since infants who are securely attached will have positive expectations that others whom they relate to will be trustworthy and friendly in return, which provides the ideal platform for interacting with others during childhood.
What did Hazan and Shaver (1987) do, find and conclude?
They analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had three sections. The first assessed respondents’ current or most important relationship. The second part assessed general love experiences such as number of partners. The third section assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of three statements best described their feelings.
Secure attachments- more likely to have good, long-lasting relationships.
Insecure-avoidant attachments – more likely to experience jealously and fear of intimacy.
Insecure-resistant attachments - more issues with maintaining romantic relationships.
They found a positive correlation between attachment type and later love experiences.
The results support Bowlby’s idea of an internal working model and suggest that our early childhood experiences affect our later adult relationships.
How does the internal working model link to adulthood relationships?
The internal working model not only influences adult romantic relationships but also the parenting style of an individual who goes on to have children of their own. As a result of parenting styles being based on personal experiences and expectations of the internal working model, attachment type tends to be passed down through the generations of a family.
What did Bailey et al (2007) do and find?
Bailey et al. (2007) looked at the attachment type of nearly 100 mothers and their infants (assessed in the strange situation) with the relationships they had with their own mothers (established in an interview).
It was found that a vast proportion of the women had the same attachment type to their infant as to their own mother, supporting the concept of the internal working model influencing parenting style.
What is a strength of attachment in later life?
Most of these studies that focus on how attachment affects later relationships are gathered using interviews /questionnaires. For example, Hazan and Shaver’s love quiz was anonymous, this meant participants were able to answer the questions honestly without the fear of being judged. This is a strength because it increases the internal validity of the research. This therefore means that the research offers a valid representation of how attachment affects later relationships.
What are the limitations of attachment in later life?
Most of these studies that focus on how attachment affects later relationships are gathered using interviews/ questionnaires. This is a problem because it relies on that person’s own ability to assess quality of attachments- have to have a lot of knowledge of their early childhood. A person has to accurately recollect memories from childhood - might not be possible. This causes issues with validity (low levels of validity).
Some contradictory evidence for internal working models and the continuation of these in future relationships. Zimmerman (2000) assessed infant attachment type and compared them to adolescent attachment type. No relationship between quality of attachment and adolescent attachment. Shows that internal working models are not as important as first thought.
The influence of early attachments on later relationships explanation is reductionist. Focuses on the importance of internal working models predicting future relationships. Ignores other factors that could affect future relationships such as temperament/Parenting styles/ environment/personal experiences.
