The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships Flashcards
What was Bowlby’s hypothesis?
The continuity hypothesis and internal working model
What was Bowlby’s continuity hypothesis?
Proposed that the type of attachment we have in infancy will remain constant throughout our lives and will characterise all of our later relationships.
What was Bowlby’s internal working model?
The nature of the relationship we form with our main caregiver in our first years of life provides a blueprint for all future relationships in childhood and adulthood.
According to findings of Bowlby’s research, what 3 characteristics did secure attachment in infancy lead to?
- Closer friendships with peers
- Greater emotional + social competence in adolescence
- More reciprocal friendships
What has research found about insecurely attached infants, insecure avoidant children, insecure resistant children?
- Insecurely attached infants- have later friendship difficulties
- Insecure avoidant children- more likely to be bullied
- Insecure resistant children- more likely to be bullies
What were the adult relationships that stemmed from attachment types?
Secure (B)- Empathetic; able to create meaningful, loving relationships and have high self esteem.
Insecure avoidant (A)- Problems with intimacy, invests little in emotional relationships, unwilling to share feelings.
Insecure resistant (C)- Avoids closeness but wants closeness, worries that partner doesn’t love them, distraught when relationship ends.
If the point is:
A strength of the influence of attachment types in childhood relationships is that there’s research evidence to support it.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- For example, Kerns found that securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood relationships, whereas insecurely attached babies have significant relationship difficulties.
Link- This illustrates support of the long lasting effects of attachment types.
If the point is:
Another strength of the influence of early attachment on adult relationships is that there’s evidence to support it in a study by Hazen and Shaver and their ‘love quiz’.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- Hazen and Shaver investigated how styles of adult romantic relationships were related to early attachment experiences through a ‘love quiz’. 620 replies found that 56% of those who described secure attachments were most likely to have happy and trusting relationships. 19% of insecure resistant people often worried they were not really loved in childhood, and 25% of people described having avoidant attachments and typically feared intimacy in adulthood.
Link- This suggests that there’s a consistency between early relationship type and later adult styles of romantic love.
If the point is:
However, a weakness of Hazen and Shaver’s theory is that there are methodological problems with it.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- The area is based on retrospective data, as participants had to think back to what their attachments were like, but they weren’t assessed when they were a child, so it’s possible that someone thought they had a secure attachment but actually didn’t.
Link- This suggests that we cannot be confident that the attachments are accurate, therefore making false conclusions on the impact of adult relationships.
If the point is:
Another strength of research into the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships is that there are practical applications of it.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- The concept of the internal working model and the continuity hypothesis have had useful real life application, as it stresses the importance of caregiver sensitivity in infancy and encourages the formation of strong, secure attachment relationships.
Explanation- There is a need for more foster and adoptive parents, however it’s hard to become an adoptive parent because you must ensure you have the right levels of sensitivity, and may have to partake in parenting classes.
Link- This suggests that early childhood is very important, so we should ensure these experiences are positive ones for infants to help them later in life.
What are the evaluation points for the influence of early attachment on child and adult relationships?
+ Research to support
+ Evidence to support it in a study by Hazen and Shaver and their love quiz
— Methodological issues with Hazen and Shaver’s study
+ Practical applications
