What influence do early attachments have on later relationships?
- Created by: fernspencerr
- Created on: 07-12-15 09:20
View mindmap
- What
influence do early attachments have on later relationships?
- psychology- attachment the importance of the internal working model
- when a child forms their first relationship with their primary attachment figure, a mental representation of this relationship is also formed
- this internal working model acts as a template for future realationships
- this is called the continuity hypothesis i.e infant attachments affect adult relationships
- evaluation of the continuity hypothesis
- POSITIVE: McCarthy's study appears to support the continuity hypothesis and so provide evidence for an internal working model
- NEGATIVE: Zimmerman (2000) assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachment to parents. There was very little relationships between quality of infant and adolescent attachment
- relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
- McCarhty (1999) studied 40 adult women who has been assessed then they were infants to establish their attachment
- SECURE ATTACHMENT: had the best adult friendships and relationships
- AVOIDANT ATTACHMEBT: struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
- Hazan and Shaver (1987) analysed 620 replies to a love quiz. it assessed respondents' current or most important relationship, general love experience e.g number of partners and attachment type by asking respondents to choose a statement that best describes their feelings
- FINDINGS: 56% wee identified as securely attached, 25% avoidant and 19% resistant
- SECURE ATTACHMENT: most likely to have good and long lasting romantic experiences
- AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT: tended to be extremely jealous and fear intimacy
- FINDINGS: 56% wee identified as securely attached, 25% avoidant and 19% resistant
- RESISTANT ATTACHMENT: had problems maintaining friendships
- relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
- evaluation of the continuity hypothesis
- the quality of the child's first attachment provide a template for future relationships
- a child whose first experience is of a loving, trusting relationship will assume this is how relationships are meant to be
- SECURE ATTACHMENT: seek out functional relationships and are able to love and trust
- AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT: too uninvolved or emotionally too close
- RESISTANT ATTACHMENT: being controlling and argumentative
- attachment type and friendship
- attachment type is also associated with the quality of peer attachment
- Myron- Wilson and Smith assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using questionnaires in 196 children ages 7-11 from London
- SECURE ATTACHMENTS: form the best quality childhood friendships (Kerns 1994) and are least likely to be involved in bullying
- AVODIANT ATTACHMENT: most likely to become victims of bullies
- RESISTANT AVOIDANT: most likely to become bullies
- most studies do not use the strange situation but assess parent-infant attachment by interview/questionnaire, retrospectively
- psychology- attachment the importance of the internal working model
Comments
No comments have yet been made