Lecture 7 - The Competence Hypothesis Flashcards
What is the competence hypothesis?
Social and emotional competence is predicted by attachment security
What does attachment security affect?
Children’s emotional, social (e.g. Friendship quality), cognitive competencies (e.g. Problem solving), physical (e.g. Obesity) and language abilities
Identify two benefits of a secure attachment
Better understanding of emotions and more elaboration of emotion themes in their conversations
What causes attachment patterns to remain stable?
If your experiences remain the same
What are the potential physical affects of insecure attachments and why do these occur?
Insecure infants had increased chances of obesity due to the different ways in which secure and insecure infants regulate their stress
What are the potential cognitive effects of secure attachment and why are they observed?
Children rated as securely attached performed better in a number of cognitive tasks e.g. Problem solving and IQ tests which is because secure infants are able to explore as they have no emotional restrictions that prevent them from exploring and engaging in these tasks
What are the potential language implications of secure attachment and why are they observed?
Secure children have better language competence because their caregivers talk to them more and they therefore get exposed to more vocabulary
How can secure attachment affect romantic relationships later in life?
Those classified as secure went on to have better quality relationships 20 years on and had a more positive state of mind about their relationships
What has been found to interact with the IWM?
Social behaviour
How do secure attachments facilitate children’s mastery of the social world?
They increase trust in other social relationships and development
