influences of early attachments Flashcards
what is the role of the internal working model?
Bowlby 1969 suggested that a baby’s first attachment with their primary caregiver leads to a mental representation of this relationship. it acts as a model template for future relationships both in childhood and adulthood.
why is a baby’s first attachment so important for future relationships?
the quality of the first attachment is crucial as this powerfully affects the nature of their future relationships. a baby who’s first attachment relationship was loving and caring will tend to figure that this is how all relationships should be so they therefore will go seeking for this kind of relationships in the future. (functional relationships). a child with bad first attachment relationships will carry these bad experiences onto later attachments and they then may struggle to form relationships later in life or may not behave appropriately in later relationships.
what does the influence of early attachments have on childhood relationships?
attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood. securely attached babies tend to form the best quality childhood friendships, whereas, insecurely attached babies have difficulties (Kerns 1994)
what was Roman Myron-wilson and Peter Smith 1998 study into bullying and attachment types for early influences of attachment?
they assessed bullying behaviour and attachment types by using standard questionairres in 196 children ages 7-11 from london. they found that secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying. insecure-avoidant were most likely to be the victims and insecure-resistant were most likely to be the bullies
what was the influence of early attachments on adult relationships?
the internal working model affects both romantic relationships in adulthood and parents relationships with their kids.
what was Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver 1987 love quiz?
they conducted a classic study on the association between attachment and adult relationships
PROCEDURE:
they analysed 620 replies to a love quiz printed in an american local newspaper. the quiz was made up of 3 sections, the first was assessing respondents current or most important relationship, the second analysed general love experiences such as number of partners and the third assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of 3 statements best described their feelings
FINDINGS:
56% were described as securely attached
25% insecure-avoidant
19% insecure-resistant
secure attachments were most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic relationships
avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy
these findings suggest that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
what was Gerard McCarthy 1999 study on the influence of early attachments on adult relationships?
he studied 40 women who had been assessed as a baby to establish their early attachment type.
securely attached babies had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships.
insecure-resistant as babies had problems maintaining friendships
insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
how does the internal working model affect adults ability to parent their children?
people tend to base their parenting style on their own internal working model, so attachment types tend to be passed down through generations.
how did Heidi Bailey 2007 assess attachment relationships in mother parenting their children?
she assessed 99 mothers and their 1 year olds. the mother-babie relationship was assessed by the strange situation and the mothers attachment to their own mother was assessed using an adult attachment interview. a majority of women has the same attachment classification both to their babies and their mother.
AO3: how is ‘real life application’ a strength to the research into the influences of early attachments?
one real advantage of understanding the relationship between early attachment is that if we know the internal working model is a template for future relationships, we will be able to understand why a child or adult may be struggling due to their attachment type. this means that people working with them are able to better support them. this therefore may help those who were not securely attached to reach relationship stability as they grow older.
AO3: how is ‘contradictory evidence’ a limitation to the research into the influences of early attachment?
evidence for continuity between early attachments and later attachments is mixed.
Zimmerman (2000) found very little relationship between quality of infant attachments and adolescent attachments.
also Becker-Stoll et al. (2008) in the regensburg longitudinal study found that when he followed 43 individuals from 1 years old. he assessed their attachment at 16 years old using the adult attachment interview and there was no evidence of continuity.
this suggests that it is not clear to what extent the quality of early attachments really predicts later developments. there may be their important factors.
AO3: how is ‘nature of the evidence’ a limitation to the research into the influences of early attachments?
most studies in this area do not use the SSP to study attachment, nor in infancy. rather, they ask adults using questionairres or interviews.
this creates problems of validity because asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of the participants. it is also hard to know wether what is being assessed is early or adult attachment. this means that the measures of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless.
AO3: how is ‘cause and effect’ a limitation to the research into the effects of early attachments?
because these studies have found an association between early attachment and later relationships the implication is that the relationship is casual.
the nature of the research evidence means that we cannot draw these conclusions.
it might be that other variables e.g. a child’s temperament, impacts both of these things (early and late attachments)
