Lecture 17 Flashcards
How to measure attachment (Hazen & Shaver)
Questionnaire with only 3 options.
Is about your current or most recent relationship
60% secure
25% avoidant
15% Dependent
Attachment style is
important for getting to know someone, especially for a romantic relationship
Relations to big 5 (meta analysis) Shaver
Secure show low N, High E (esp SD) and High A
Anxious: Very high N
Avoidant: Low E, Low A
About a 0.2-3 correlation
When controlling for big 5, attachment styles predict relationship outcome better than big 5
Bowlby, why attachment
Evolution
Important to protect babies
Emotional regulation (might be more important now)
Does everyone attach?
No. And those who do not (even insecurely) are developmentally challenged like severe autism
Pattern of attachment
Orientate to sounds
Then to faces
Then preferably to parents
Anecdote Prof and sophie
Sophie attached well to Sophie’s mom even though she cant breast feed
Prof changed diapers
Strange situation
65% secure
Insecure:
20% avoidant
15% anxious-Ambivalent
D children
Disorganized attachment
1%
Abuse
Worst outcomes?
No or D attachments
What behaviors influence attachment and what are the benefits of attachment?
Secure attachment moms are
consistent sensitive responsive attentive not interfering or controlling
At 3 months how do mothers
respond to crying
affection with holding
enter room
feed
babies?
Secure attachment as influenced by above gives:
What developmental outcomes are associated with attachment?
Exploration
Task Mastery
Emotional Adaptation
Social Adaptation
Anecdote: Sophie and Minnie
Sophie was scared of the dog Minnie
Kept going back to dad as a safe base
Then explored dog again
Later:
Very comfortable with Minnie so got over it
Minnie was uncomfortable at first too. Kept a chew toy/doll as a transitional attachment object (teddy bears can be this)
Social functioning at age 5 and attachment
Social competence Popularity Social participation Attention Social dominance
Were all better in attached kids than in insecure attached kids
Twins and attachement
In strange situation DZ and MZ show no difference. Attachment is behavioral not genetic
Do early attachments influence later ones?
(1) Hazen & Shaver 1987
Very close match between the percentage of kids secure/anxious/avoidant as kids and the percentage as adults
(2)Simpson et al, 2007
Measured Infant attachment
Peer competence in teacher report grades 1,2 and 3
Age 16 interview about security in close friendships
Age 23 assess:
Emotional tone of relationship
Observation during conflict resolution
Observation during collaborative task
Secure kids are popular at 5, have a best friend at teenage and a romantic partner at 22-23
Conclusions:
Infant attachment had a .36 correlation with peer competence
peer competence had a .38 correlation with security at age 16
Security at age 16 had a .43 correlation to positive assessment at age 23
was a .2 direct correlation between infant attachment and assessment at 23
Our experiences in adult relationships appear to be tied in significant ways top experiences rooted in earlier relationships and stages of development
But the strongest and most direct impact on the next stage.
Minnesota longitudenal study and attachment
271 firs time poor moms
170 kids followed 32 years
48% teens, 65% single, 42% no HS education
(high risk group)
Infant assessment of attachment at 12 and 18 months
big 5 traits at 32
Controlled for education level of mom
Found 45% secure attachment, lower than normal
At 32 correlations show significant relationships between secure attachment and high A and C and low N
How stable are measurements of adult attachment?
Over time .3
Across partners .4 (so partner selection makes a difference)
Secures pair with secures more than chance
More likely for secure people to have secure kids
