The Influence Of Early Attachment On Childhood & Adulthood Flashcards
Internal working model
This is a set of beliefs we have about relationships in terms of how we expect to be treated in them
Securely attached infants
Will have positive views of relationships characterised by trust and a view that their partner will be available and loving towards them
Insecurely attached avoidant
Will not expect to be close to their partners, will tend to avoid intimacy and will not trust their partners to be there for them.
Insecurely attached resistant
Tend to be controlling, argumentative, manipulative and clingy.
Hazan and Shaver(1987)
(Love quiz on 620 North Americans) they found that securely attached people had more positive and long lasting relationships whilst insecure avoidant people avoided intimacy and tended to get jealous more
Bailey et al
Compared the attachments Mother’s had to their babies compared to the attachments they had with those own mothers. Found that the majority had the same attachment type
Evaluation strength: McCarthy et al (1999)
Who studied the relationship experiences of 40 adult women who had their attachment type assessed in childhood. Those with secure had positive relationships whilst those with insecure struggled.
Evaluation weakness: methodological issues
Studies in this area often have people fill in questionnaires about their childhood which they may not be able to recall correctly or truthfully.
Evaluation weakness: correlational research
Just because studies find a link between attachment type and adult relationships doesn’t mean one of these variables causes the other.
Evaluation weakness: deterministic
If we have insecure attachment then we are doomed to a life of problematic relationships
Evaluation weakness: unfalsifiable
Difficulty testing internal working models as they are unconscious.
