Early attachment Flashcards
Describe what is meant by the ‘internal working model’
Bowlby suggested that a baby’s first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship
This internal working model acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships - their first attachment will affect their future relationships
Name some consequences of a positive happy experience in childhood
Seek out functioning relationships and behave functionally within them
They won’t be too uninvolved or emotionally closed (insecure-avoidant)
They won’t be controlling and argumentative (insecure-resistant)
Name some consequences of a negative bad experience in childhood
May struggle to form a relationship
May not behave appropriately within relationships
Display insecure-avoidant or insecure-resistant behaviour towards friends and partners
What did Kerns (1994) find?
Found that securely attached babies tended to form the best quality childhood friendships
Wilson and Smith looked into attachment types and bullying, what did they find?
Secure children = less likely to be involved in bullying
Insecure-avoidant = most likely to be the victim
Insecure-resistant = likely to be the bully
The internal working model affects what 2 major adult experiences?
Romantic relationships and parental relationships with your own children
What did Hazen and Shaver conduct?
‘The Love Quiz’ looking at the association between attachment and adult relationships
What was Hazen and Shaver’s procedure?
Analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American newspaper
Section 1 assessed current and most important relationships
Section 2 assessed general love experience (number of partners)
Section 3 assessed attachment type
What were Hazen and Shaver’s findings?
56% were identified as securely attached
25% insecure-avoidant
19% insecure-resistant
What were Hazen and Shaver’s conclusions?
Those reporting secure attachments were most likely to have good/ longer lasting romantic experiences
Avoidant respondents tended to be jealous and fear intimacy
This showed that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
In Hazen and Shaver’s experiment, what percent were identified as securely attached?
56%
In Hazen and Shaver’s experiment, what percent were identified as insecure avoidant?
25%
In Hazen and Shaver’s experiment, what percent were identified as insecure resistant?
19%
Describe McCarthy’s (1999) study?
Studied 40 adult women who had been assessed for attachment type as babies
Securely attached = the best adults friendships and romantic relationships
Insecure-resistant = trouble maintaining friendships
Insecure-avoidant = struggled with intimacy
In this topic, parenting styles is based off of what?
Internal Working Model which is passed on through family members
What did Bailey et al (2007) do?
Looked at the attachment of 99 mothers to their babies and their own mothers
The Strange Situation was used for mother-baby relationship and interviews were used for adult attachment
The majority of women had the same attachment classification to both their baby and own mothers
Give 3 limitations of early attachment
- Lack of validity - Most studies do NOT use the Strange Situation but assess infant-parent attachment using questionnaires and interviews when they are older
Validity is limited as it depends on the respondents being honest and having a realistic view of their own relationship
This retrospective assessment lacks validity as it relies on accurate recollections - Theoretical problem with IWM - IWM (internal working model) is unconscious and we don’t fully understand its influence on us
Therefore it is hard to get direct evidence through self-reports
This is because the researcher is relying on the participants conscious understanding of those relationships which means the data collected is more likely to be indirect evidence - Exaggerated - Clarke and Clarke (1998) described the influence of infant attachment on later relationships as “probabilistic”
People are not doomed to always have bad relationships because they have attachment problems
