Influence of early attachment on later relationships AO3

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  • Created by: Jordan64
  • Created on: 15-08-17 20:11
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  • Influence of early attachment on later relationships AO3
    • Evidence on continuity of attachment mixed
      • Internal working model: attachment type in infancy affects quality of relationships in later life
        • Zimmerman (2000) assessed infant attachment type and adolecsent attachments to parents: little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachment
          • Limitation: shows internal working model not so important in quality of adolescent relationships
    • Issues with validity
      • Studies into the influence of attachment on later relationships often use questionnaires or interviews
        • This limits the validity as it is dependant on participants having minimal response bias + recollection
          • Limitation as it questions whether attachment types actually have influence on later relationships
    • Correlation does not mean causation
      • Alternate explanations for continuity that often exists between infant and later relationships
        • Child's temperament may influence both infant attachment and quality of later relationships
          • This counters Bowlby's view of the internal working model affecting later relationships
    • Influence of infant attachment on future relationships exaggerated
      • Clarke & Clarke (1998) describe influence of infant attachment on late relationships as 'probablistic
        • People not doomed to always have bad relationships due to attachment problems - they are at a greater risk
          • By overemphasising this risk, we become too reductionist about the effect of later relationships from the internal working model
    • Theoretical problem with research related to internal working models
      • Internal working models unconscious - not aware of influence on us
        • We wouldn't expect to get direct evidence about them through self-report methods which require conscious awareness
          • When participants self-report on their relationships they rely on conscious understanding of those relationships
            • At best, self-report gives us indirect evidence about internal working models
              • Potential limitation of most research involving concept of internal working model

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