Early Attachment and Later Relationships

Question 1

Examples of Bowlby’s internal working model influencing adult relationships?

Answer 1

1. If a child has a secure attachment to a sensitive caregiver, they are likely to see themselves as worthy of being loved. They are likely to form future secure relationships,
2. If a child has an insecure attachment with a caregiver who rejects them, they are likely to see thmselves as unworthy of being loved. They are likely to form future insecure relationships.

Question 2

Hazan and Shaver (1987), method?

Answer 2

1. Conducted a love quiz in a local newspaper,
2. The quiz had two sections; the 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 2

Hazan and Shaver (1987), results?

Answer 2

1. The first 620 responses were analysed,
2. They found that there was a correlation between the type of childhood attachment and people’s later views on romantic love,
3. Secure children were more likely to have happy and trustworthy relationships,
4. Insecure-avoidant children ended up fearing intimacy and insecure-resistant children were more likely to be worried that they weren’t loved in their relationships.

Question 3

Hazan and Shaver (1987), conclusion?

Answer 3

1. Hazan and Shaver concluded that their findings provided support for Bowlby’s internal working model - that early attachments do influence adult relationships.

Question 4

Hazan and Shaver (1987), evaluation?

Answer 4

1. The quiz relied on people thinking back to their childhood, which isn’t always accurate,
2. Additionally, the study used a volunteer sample, so a certain type of person might be likely to respond,
3. Also, people may have answered untruthfully to show themselves in a better light,
4. However, they did repeat the study in 2003, and found similar results.

Question 5

What is the adult attachment interview?

Answer 5

1. A way to scientifically assess the relationship between early childhood attachments and later adult attachments,
2. Based on the idea that it doesn’t really matter exactly what the childhood attachment was - it is how it was remembered. Again supporting Bowlby’s internal working model.

Question 6

Main et al. (1985) - The Adult attachment interview?

Answer 6

1. Semi-structured interview involving a series of questions about childhood attachment relationships, and how these were seen to influence later relationships,
2. The interviewee is asked to give five adjectives explaining their relationship with each of their parents,
3. They are then asked to explain why they chose each adjective,
4. Other questions are then asked about times they got upset, if they ever felt rejected, and how they believe their early experiences influenced their adult attachments,
5. The results are then classified by trained coders into a category - secure, dismissing, preoccupied, or unresolved/disorganised,
6. Main et al. went on to show that the categories of adult relationships could be predicted from people’s recall of their childhood attachments.

Question 7

What is the cycle of privation?

Answer 7

Studies suggest that children who expeirence privation go on to have difficulties caring for their own children.

Question 8

Quinton et al. (1984), method and findings?

Answer 8

1. Compared 50 women who had experienced institutional care as children with 50 women who hadn’t,
2. They found that the women who had been raised in institutions were more likely to have parenting difficulties later in life,
3. Suggests that there is a cycle of privation - children who have experienced privation later go on to become less caring parents,
4. Therefore, their children are deprived of a strong maternal attachment and may then be less caring to their children, and so on.

Question 9

Parker and Forrest (1993), Reactive Attachment Disorder?

Answer 9

1. Outlined this rare but serious condition, which occurs in children who have been permanently damaged by early experiences such as privation of attachment, symptoms included,
2. An inability to give or receive affection; dishonesty; poor social relationships; involvement in crime.

Question 10

Freud and Dann (1951), method and findings?

Answer 10

1. Studied six children who were rescued after WWII,
2. They had been orphaned during the war at a few months old, and raised within a deportation camp,
3. Although they were looked after by the Jewish people ‘passing through’ to the concentration camps, the children didn’t have time to form any adult attachments, instead forming bonds amongst themselves,
4. When the war ended, the children were adopted by British families and have since shown few signs of a troubled upbringing, having a normal level of intelligence and maintaining normal relationships.