influence of early attachment on later relationships

influence of early attachment on later relationships

1. attachment and later relationships

   • internal working model
     • based on the first relationship - will be how they make relationships
       • good experience = good relationship
         • bad experience = bad relationship
   • relationships in later childhood
     • attachment type = quality of relationship
       • securely attached = best childhood friends
         • smith & Wilson = 195 kids 7-11 and bullying
           • secure won't be involved. insecure avoidant victims. insecure resistant the bullies
   • relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
     • McCarthy - 40 women assessed infant and romantic attachment
       • secure = best romantic and friend attachment
         • insecure resistant = couldn't maintain attachments
           • insecure avoidant = hard in intimate relationships
     • Hazan & Shaver
       • love quiz
         • procedure
           • 620 American answers
             • assessed current relationship, number of partners, attachment type
         • findings
           • 56% secure, 25% avoidant, 19% resistant
             • secure have the best relationships. avoidant = jealous and fear of intimacy.
   • relationships in adulthood as a parent
     • people parent how they were brought up
       • Bailey
         • 99 mother and baby attachment
           • attachment assessed using strange situation and also to their mother attachment
             • most had the same as their mother

2. evaluation

   • evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed
     • your attachment to your mother will be the same as you and your child
       • McCarthy does support this
       • Zimmerman does not support
   • issues of validity
     • use interviews or questionnaires instead of a strange situation
       • self report techniques
         • might not be honest or can't remember
   • association does not mean causality
     • most studies = infant attachment type causes the attachment
       • another factor could be environment or temperament
         • this goes against the internal working model

3. evaluation +

   • the influence of early attachment is probabilistic
     • Bowlby exaggerated how much attachment will effect later life
       • Clarke - people are not doomed if they have poor infant attachments
         • just a probability of poor future attachments
   • self report is conscious, internal working models aren't
     • can't say how internal working model influences us as we don't know it's there
       • can only self report on things we are aware of
         • internal working model is theoretical