Influence of early attachment

What is Bowlby’s internal working model?

A mental template (schema) formed from the infant’s first attachment, creates expectations about the self, others and rships + influences in future rships.

How does a secure attachment affect the internal working model?

A sensitive responsive caregiver creates a +ve internal wm. Child expects others to be trustworthy + rships = loving+reliable in future.

How does insecure attachment affect the internal working model?

An inconsistent/unresponsive caregiver may create a -ve internal wm → child expects others rejection/difficulty in later rships.

How can the internal working model model influence later rships?

Early attachment acts as a template for later rships, potentially influencing friendships, romantic rships + parenting.

What did Kerns (1994) find?

Securely attached infants =more likely to have good-quality peer rships during childhood, while insecurely attached children had more difficulty making + maintaining friendships.

What did Sroufe et al. (2005) find?

Securely attached children were more likely to be socially competent, empathetic, popular + less isolated during childhood.

How do Kerns and Sroufe support Bowlby’s internal working model?

They suggest that early attachment affects expectations about others, which can influence how children behave in later rships.

Hazan & Shaver (1987) rships in adulthood, Romantic: What was the aim of Hazan and Shaver?

‘Love Quiz’ questionnaire to test the internal wm to assess if early attachment influences adult romantic rships.

What was the procedure of Hazan & Shaver?

Published ‘Love Quiz’ in American newspaper. 620 adult volunteers (205 males 415 females) completed questions on their most important rship, general exp in love and feelings in relation to statements.

What did Hazan & Shaver find?

• 56% secure, 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant.

• +ve correlation between early + secure attachments in childhood=most likely to have loving + lasting romantic rships, while insecure types reported more rship difficulties.

What did Hazan & Shaver conclude?

Early attachment experiences = related to adult romantic rships bc of internal wm formed in infancy to guide expectations.

Parenting: What did Bailey et al. (2007) investigate?

The attachment types of around 100 mothers + their infants (in strange situation) with the rships with their own others.

What did Bailey find?

A large proportion of mothers had the same attachment type as their infants and their own mothers, supporting the idea that attachment can be passed between gens.

• Links to Harlow + poor attachments.

A03 Strength 1: What supporting evidence is there for the influence of earlier attachment on later relationships?

A meta-analysis on earlier attachment and socio-emotional development concluded that early attachment patterns predicted later attachments and rships.

• Suggests secure attachment in infancy is linked to more successful later rships, supporting Bowlby’s internal wm.

Strength 2: How do longitudinal studies support the influence of early attachment on later relationships?

A longitudinal study found that participants who were securely attached as infants later had:

• Higher social emotional skills

• Closer friendships with peers

• Greater ability to express emotions healthily in rships

Therefore early attachment can predict later relationship outcomes, supporting Bowlby’s theory.

Weakness 1: What research challenges the idea of continuity of attachment type from childhood to adulthood?

Zimmerman (2000) Found that infant attachment classification was not related to the quality of parent relationships drawing adolescence.

• Suggests: Early attachment does not always predict to later relationships, weakening Bowlby’s claim of continuity.

Weakness 2: Why is the evidence being correlational a weakness of research into early attachment?

Much research only shows a relationship between earlier attachment and later relationships it can’t prove early attachment caused later behaviour bc of other factors e.g. temperament maybe responsible.

• Fraley (2002) Found correlations were not always strong positive ones either meaning correlation research in this area was not very reliable due to unstable results.

Weakness 3: Why is retrospective research a methodological weakness?

Studies like Hazan & Shaver rely on self-report from adults remembering their childhood attachment. Memories from many years ago, maybe inaccurate, reducing internal validity of findings.

• Further possibility of social desirability bias.

Weakness 4 (Issues + debates): Why is Bowlby’s criticised as deterministic?

Has very set views on outcomes for future behaviour + suggest earlier attachment determines future rships. However, people with insecure attachments can still develop happy, successful rships later.

• Therefore, Bowlby may underestimate the influence of later experiences and individual choice.

How does the internal working model explain continuity between early and later relationships?

Early attachment → Internal working model → expectations about relationship relationships → behaviour in later relationships.

• E.g; Secure early attachment → +ve expectations → trusting rships.