Section 3 : Attachment - Early Attachments And Later Relationships

Question 1

What did Bowlby’s internal working model look at

Answer 1

How childhood attachments influence adult relationship

Question 2

Give an example of the internal working model

Answer 2

If a child has a secure attachment to a sensitive caregiver, they are likely to see themselves as worthy of being loved. They are then likely to form future secure relationships. Same goes for insecure attachments to caregivers

Question 3

What was the method of Hazan and Shaver 1987

Answer 3

• Conducted a love quiz in local newspaper, quiz had two parts
• first part assessed the attachment type of each person with their parents
• the second part involved questions asking about their current beliefs about romantic love

Question 4

What was the results of Hazan and Shaver 1987

Answer 4

• first 620 responses were analysed
• found that there was a correlation between they type of childhood attachment and peoples later views on romantic love
• secure children were more likely to have happy trustworthy relationships
• insecure avoidant children ended up fearing intimacy
• insecure resistant children were more likely to be worried that they weren’t loved in their relationship

Question 5

What was the conclusion of Hazan and Shaver 1987

Answer 5

Their findings provide support for Bowlby’s internal working model - that early attachments do influence adult relationships

Question 6

What are the evaluations of Hazan vs Shaver 1987

Answer 6

• relied on people thinking back to their childhood - not always accurate
• used volunteer sample so a certain type of person might be more likely to respond
• people may have answered untruthfully
• they repeated the study in 2003 and found similar results

Question 7

What is the adult attachment interview

Answer 7

A way to try and scientifically assess relationship between early childhood attachments and later adult attachments

Question 8

What did Main et al 1985 - the adult attachment interview show

Answer 8

That the categories of adult relationships could be predicted from peoples recall of their childhood attachments

Question 9

What is the cycle of privation

Answer 9

Where children who experience privation go on to have difficulties caring for their own children

Question 10

What did Quinton Et al 1984 find

Answer 10

• That women raised in institutions were more likely to have parenting difficulties later in life
• supports cycle of privation
• so their children are deprived of a strong maternal attachment and therefore less caring

Question 11

What did Parker and Forrest 1993 outline

Answer 11

A rare serious condition, occurs in children permanently damaged by early experiences e.g. privation, called reactive attachment disorder

Question 12

What are the symptoms of reactive attachment disorder

Answer 12

• can’t give or receive affection
• dishonesty
• poor social relationships
• involvement in crime