Flashcards
The influence of childhood on adult relationships:
Flashcards do conjunto (7)
- 1AO1Shaver proposed that our experiences of love in adulthood is an integration of three behavioural systems acquired in early infancy and childhood: Attachment, caregiving and sexuality systems. The attachment system is related to the internal working model proposed by Bowlby. Bowlby theorised that later relationships are likely to be a continuation of early attachment styles (secure or insecure) as the primary attachment figure promotes an internal working model of relationships which will set the standard for later relationships. The caregiving system is the knowledge about how one cares for others which is learned through the modelling behaviour of the primary attachment figure. The sexuality system is also learnt through early attachment e.g. those who suffered from an avoidant attachment may then see sex without love is pleasurable.
- 2PART 2Qualter et al have shown how children also learn from other children and interactions with peers. The way a child thinks about himself is determined by specific experiences that become internalised and as a result develops a sense of their own value which then determines how they approach adult relationships. Nangle et al proposed that children’s friendships are in fact a training ground for important adult relationships. Through this close friendships could play a significant role in developing social skills as they are characterised by affection, a sense of alliance and intimacy, these are all important qualities in later adult relationships.
- 3AO2/AO3Fraley et al conducted a meta-analysis of studies finding positive correlations between early attachment type and later relationships supporting the theory. The possible implication here is greater support is likely needed in the childhood stage to encourage social interaction (playgroups) as this could affect the child’s life significantly later on into adulthood with difficulties in adult relationships. The problem with this however is many studies in this area have been conducted with US participants and the other results from such samples may not adequately represent other areas or cultures due to cultural bias. Therefore the theory may be limited to US children and adults.
- 4PART 2Gender differences have been found between children from a number of studies. Schneider et al found that girls have more intimate friendships while boys tend to be more competitive. This could affect how both genders develop in their ability to interact with peers in later life too and sexual selection theories “intra-sexual competition” amongst males may offer a reason for this gender difference. Therefore this theory may be flawed in its assumption that it is early attachment styles alone shaping later relationships but differences in gender also due to socialisation (nurture) or “nature” due to male’s competitive streak to attract females. Erwin et al claimed any gender differences are overemphasised and many similarities are actually overlooked also.
- 5PART 3Simpson et al conducted a longitudinal study spanning more than 25 years involving 78 participants at 4 key points: Infancy, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The findings of this study supported the claim that expressions of emotions in adult romantic relationships could be related back to a person’s early attachment experience. This is useful as it allows researchers to observe changes in behaviour first hand as opposed to asking people to rely on memory which may be biased or affected. The weakness here is that other unknown variables can still be affecting the participant’s later adult relationships such as cultural or social factors.
- 6PART 4Belsky et al cited studies showing that secure women experienced less conflict with their husbands than insecure woman. Secure women were also found to be more likely to manage conflict in a mutually focused way which may explain why they experience less conflict in the first place and this applied to both dating and married couples. Secure individuals were also seen to be more committed to relationships and feel greater love for their partners.
- 7Part 5Such findings are consistent with Shaver et als theory that early attachment styles may translate later into adult relationships. Hamilton et al however found in other studies that securely attached children became insecure later on as a result of negative life events. Rutter et al also found that insecure attachments in childhood did not always translate into poor quality adult relationships either as many went onto form secure stable adult relationships. This suggests a bigger role for “nurture” and the environment shaping ones behaviour possibly far more than that of early attachment styles.
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- AS Level Psychology (Relationships) FlashCards sobre The influence of childhood on adult relationships:, criado por Talentless Academic em 31-03-2015.
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