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Effect of Early Attachment. - Coggle Diagram
Effect of Early Attachment.
Internal Working Model.
In other words, our early attachment experiences act as a blueprint for later relations.
If a child has a secure attachment to a sensitive caregiver, they are likely to see themselves as worthy of being loved. They are then likely to form secure relationships.
According to Bowlby’s theory when we form our primary attachment we also make a mental representation of what a relationship is. We then use this for all other relationships in the future i.e. friendships, working and romantic relationships.
If a child has an insecure attachment with a caregiver who rejects them, they are likely to see themselves as unworthy of being loved. They are then likely to form future insecure relationships.
Hazan and Shaver.
This study is designed to test the internal working model.
Procedure:
They placed an advert for a 'Love Quiz' in the Rocky Mountain news.
The quiz asked questions about current attachment types and about childhood attachment types.
They analysed 620 responses, 205 men and 415 women.
Findings:
Found that:
56% secure
25% avoidant
19% resistant
Found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences:
Securely attached adults = happy love experiences and these relationships were more enduring - 10 years on average.
Resistant and avoidant were less happy and on average 5 years.
Securely attached adults tended to have a positive internal working model.
Bowlby supporting?
This provides support for Bowlby’s Internal Working Model.
HOWEVER- the quiz relied on people thinking back to their childhood, which wasn’t always accurate. They used a volunteer sample, so a certain type of person might be more likely to respond. Also, people may have answered untruthfully to show themselves in a better light.
This was only done with 620 ppts in one demographic…
HOWEVER they did repeat the experiment in 2003 and found similar results
Childhood relationships.
According to Bowlby’s theory when we form our primary attachment we also make a mental representation of what a relationship is (internal working model) which we then use for all other relationships in the future i.e. friendships, working and romantic relationships.
In other words there will be continuity between early attachment experiences and later relationships. This is known as the continuity hypothesis.
According to attachment theory, the child who has a secure attachment style should be more confident in interactions with friends.
Evaluation.
Hartup et.al (1993) argues that children with a secure attachment type are more popular at nursery and engage more in social interactions with other children. In contrast, insecurely attached children tend to be more reliant on teachers for interaction and emotional support.
Considerable evidence has supported this view. For example, the Minnesota study (2005) followed participants from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behavior. Securely attached children were rated most highly for social competence later in childhood, were less isolated and more popular than insecurely attached children.
An alternative explanation for continuity in relationships is the temperament hypothesis which argues that an infant’s temperament affects the way a parent responds and so may be a determining factor in infant attachment type. The infant’s temperament may explain their issues (good or bad) with relationships in later life.
Parenting Style.
Research indicates an intergenerational continuity between adults attachment types and their children, including children adopting the parenting styles of their own parents. People tend to base their parenting style on the internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family.
Evaluation.
Research by Bailey (2007) found that the majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers.
Harlow’s monkeys showed a link between poor attachment and later difficulties with parenting because they had a lack of an internal working model.
Romantic Relations.
There also appears to be continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later adult romantic relationships. This idea is based upon the internal working model where an infant’s primary attachment forms a model (template) for future relationships. The IWM influences a person’s expectation of later relationships thus affects his attitudes towards them. In other words there will be continuity between early attachment experiences and later relationships.
Evaluation.
Hazan Shaver theory is reductionist because it assumes that people who are insecurely attached as children will become insecurely attached as adults and have poor quality adult relationships. As well as this, attachment types identified in the Strange Situation and used in Hazan and Shaver’s study relate only to the quality of relationship with one person. Therefore, an adult’s choice of description to their attachment style might only relate to their current relationships.
An alternative explanation for continuity in relationships is the temperament hypothesis, founded by Kagan. He found that infants have an innate personality, such as being easy going or difficult, which influences the quality of their attachment with caregivers and in later relationships. This suggests that attachments form as a result of temperament and not an innate gene for attachment; which goes against Bowlby’s theory. This also suggests that attempts to develop better quality relationships by changing people’s attachment styles to more positive ones would not work.