Influence of early attachment

Question 1

What did Myron-Wilson and Smith say about influence of early attachment ?

Answer 1

• self-report
• 196 children age 7-11 from London
• Secure = least likely to be involved in bullying
• IA = more likely to be victims
• IR = more likely to be bullies

Question 2

What does Mcarthy say about relationships in adulthood and the procedure ?

Answer 2

• Assed 40 women whose attachment was assessed as an infant
• Studied the effect of early attachment on romantic relationships

Question 3

What happens to secure attachment in adult relationships ?

Answer 3

Children who are able to separate from parent = make trusting relationships
Seek comfort from parents when scared = ave more self-esteem
Greets the return of parents with positive emotion = comfortable sharing feelings
Prefers parents to strangers = seek out social support

Question 4

What happens to insecure resistant attachment in adult relationships ?

Answer 4

May be wary of strangers = reluctant to be closed to others
Large separation anxiety = worry their partner doesn’t love them
Don’t appear comforted = distraught when relationships end

Question 5

What happens to insecure avoidant attachment in adult relationships ?

Answer 5

May avoid parents = may have intimacy problems
Doesn’t seek much comfort = must like emotion to relationships
Shows little preference to parents over strangers = unwilling to share thoughts or feelings

Question 6

What did Hazan and Shaver study ?

Answer 6

• Looked at association between attachment and adult relationships
• printed a ‘love quiz’
• looked at 620
  3 section quiz:
  1. Current / most important relationship
  2. General lone experiences, number of partners
  3. Attachment type - 3 statements bets describes you

Findings:
56% secure - trusting and confident
25% insecure avoidant - fear and jealousy of relationships
19% insecure resistant - easily and open in love

Question 7

What are strengths of the influence of early attachment ?

Answer 7

• Research support - early attachment predicts later relationships

Question 8

What are the limitations of the research into the influence of early attachment ?

Answer 8

Validity: Assessed retrospectively, this means that the studies aren’t longitudinal studies.
Cofounding variables: Parenting style and later life events can change throughout the experiment

Question 9

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s IWM model ?

Answer 9

• it is difficult to measure
• this is because it is a hypothetical method