11. Influence Of Early Attachment On Later Relationships

Question 1

What is the internal working model?

Answer 1

Child forms mental representation (schema) of relationships which serves as a template for future relationships

Question 2

What does the internal working mode mean for future relationships?

Answer 2

Quality of early relationships affect later relationships

Question 3

What does each early attachment type mean about childhood friendship according according to Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998)?

Answer 3

• Secure: Best quality friendships, not involved in bullying
• Insecure resistant: difficult, most likely to be bullies
• Insecure avoidant: difficult, most likely to be victims

Question 4

How did Myron-Wilson and Smith assess attachment type and bullying involvement?

Answer 4

Questionnaires for 196 children in London aged 7-11

Question 5

What did Gerard McCarthy find about adult relationships for each early attachment classification?

Answer 5

• Secure: Best friendship & romance
• Insecure-resistant: Particular problems with friendships
• Insecure-avoidant: struggle with romantic intimacy

Question 6

What did Hazan and Shaver study?

Answer 6

Association between early attachment and adult relationships

Question 7

What was the ‘love quiz’?

Answer 7

Quiz in local American newspaper with 3 sections: current/most important relationship, general love experience (e.g. number of partners), assessment of attachment type

Question 8

Describe how secure attachment (56%) impacts romantic relationships according to the love quiz

Answer 8

• Good quality
• Trusting, comfortable, intimate
• Lasting

Question 9

Describe how insecure attachment (25%) impacted romantic relationships according to the love quiz

Answer 9

• Hard to trust, fear of intimacy
• Therefore uninvolved, distant, distrusting
• Short

Question 10

Describe how insecure resistant attachment (19%) impacted romantic relationships according to the love quiz

Answer 10

• Fear of rejection, jealousy/fear of abandonment, emotional shifts
• Therefore controlling, argumentative clingy
• Short

Question 11

How does smeone’s attachment type relate to future generations?

Answer 11

• Parent relationships affected by internal working model
• Likely to treat children as they were treated
• Child’s internal working model similar to parent’s
• Therefore attachment type passed down through generations

Question 12

What did Bailey et. Al find about parent relationships and attachment and how?

Answer 12

Majority of women have same attachment type as mother and child(ren)- found by assessing mother’s attachment (interview) and child’s attachment (strange situation) with 99 mothers and their babies

Question 13

Why may the continuity hypothesis be questionable?

Answer 13

• Evidence inconsistent
• McCarthy supports
• Zimmermann (2000) found little relationship between infant and adolescent relationships
• Shows lack of understanding

Question 14

What type of data does internal working model research often use and why is it a problem?

Answer 14

Retrospective interviews/questionnaires used, which may not be as accurate or realistic, or be subject to social desirability bias

Question 15

What did Bowlby imply about the internal working model and why is this wrong?

Answer 15

Suggests infant attachment type causes later relationships but is only a correlation and may be other factors (e.g. parenting style or temperament) as intervening variable

Question 16

Why is the supposed influence of early relationships deterministic?

Answer 16

Bowlby may have exaggerated effects and lack of free-will is pessimistic and dismissive

Question 17

What did Rutter and Quinton find could change future relationships outside the household?

Answer 17

Problematic parent relationships can still lead to a person having later stable relationships if they have a positive school experience

Question 18

What is the problem of using self report techniques to assess internal working model?

Answer 18

Internal working model is unconscious thought so can’t be directly assessed through conscious thought as this may be unrepresentative and inaccurate