psychology influence of early attachments on later relationships Flashcards
what is the internal working model bowlby
babys first relationship with primary attachment figure leads to mental representation of relationship
internal working model acts as template for future childhood and adulthood relationships
quality of babys first attachment is crucial because template will powerfully affect nature of their future relationships, baby whose first experience is of a loving relationship with reliable attachment figure will tend to assume this is how relationships are meant to be they will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them- without being too uninvolved or emotionally close insecure avoidant or being controlling and argumentative insecure resistant
child with bad experiences of first attachment will bring bad experiences to bear on later relationships, may struggle to form relationships in first place or may not behave appropriately within relationships displaying insecure avoidant or insecure resistant behaviour towards friends and partners
what are relationships in childhood
attachment type associated with quality of peer relationships in childhood
securely attached babies tend to go on to form best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached babies later have friendship difficulties
bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type
myron wilson and smith assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from london, secure children were unlikely to be involved in bullying insecure avoidant children most likely to be victims and insecure resistant children most likely to be the bullies
what are relationships in adulthood
affect two adult experiences- romantic relationships and parental relationships with own children
mccarthy-studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were babies to establish early attachment type, those assessed as securely attached babies had best adult friendships and romantic relationships, adults classed as insecure resistant had problems maintaining friendships, insecure avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
affect childs ability to parent their own childrne, people tend to base parenting style on internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of family
bailey- considered attachment of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers, mother baby attachment was assessed using strange situation and mothers attachment to mother was assessed using adult attachment interview, majority of women had same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers
what is the research support
supporting evidence
reviews of evidence concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment emotional well being and attachment to own children
how strong relationships is between early attachment type and later development depends on both attachment type and aspect of later development
insecure avoidant seems to convey fairly mild disadvantages for any aspect of development, disorganised attachment strongly associated with later mental disorder
secure attachment as baby appears to convey advantages for future development while disorganised attachment appears to serously disadvantage children
not all evidence supports existence of close links between early attachment and later development
regensburg longitudinal study followed 43 individuals from one yro, at age 16 attachment was assessed using adult attachment interview and was no evidence of continuity
it is not clear to what extent quality of early attachment really predicts later development- may be other important factors
what is validity issues with retrospective studies
most research into influence of attachment is early attachment is assessed retrospectively
most research on link between early attachment and later development arent longitudinal
researchers usually ask adolescent or adult pps questions about their relationship with parents and identify attachment type from this
causes two validity problems
asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of pps, means its hard to know whether what is being assessed is early attachment or in fact adult attachment
measures of eatly attachment used in most studies may be confounding with other factors making them meaningless
what is confounding variables
confounding variables
some studies do assess attachment in infancy means assessment of early attachment is valid
even in studies may have validity problems because assciations between attachment quality and later development may be afcected by confounding variables
parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development
genetically influence personality may be influence on both factors
we can never be entirely sure that it is early attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development
