early attachment

• what is the internal working model


  an infant learns from experience, it learns how to act in a relationship from its early childhood relationships and forms a 'template' for future rels
• who suggested the internal working model


  bowlby
• who tested the internal working model


  hazan and shaver
• what was hazan and shavers study


  the 'love quiz
• procedure of hazan and shavers study


  placed a 'love quiz' in a local news article

  - it asked about current attachment and childhood attachment

  - it also asked about attitudes towards love

  
  

  620 responces, 205 from men and 415 from women
• findings of hazan and shavers study


  they found that most attachment types were similar to those found in infancy

  56% secure

  25% avoidant

  19% resistant

  
  

  they found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences

  - secure adults experienced happiness and friendly and trusting and were more enduring, they lasted 10 years on avg

  - resistant lasted 5 on avg

  - avoidant lasted 6 on avg
• what behaviours are influenced by the internal working model


  childhood friendships

  poor parenting

  romantic relationships

  mental health
• how are childhood friendships influenced by the internal working model


  the minesota parent-child study found that infants classified as securely attached had higher social competence later in childhood, more popular, less isolated, more empathetic
• how is poor parenting influenced by the internal working model


  harlows research demonstrated a link between poor attachment + poor parenting + quinton supports this
• how are romantic rels influenced by internal working model


  hazan and shaver demonstrated a link between attachment type and later rels/attachment type
• how is mental health influenced by the internal working model


  the lack of attachment during the critical period would result in a lack of an internal working model

  - children with an attachment disorder have no preffered attachment figure, an inability to interact and relate to others and experience of neglect, this has been considered a condition and been recognised in the DSM
• positive eval of the internal working model


  the research of hazan and shaver and harlow etc
• negative eval of the internal working model


  research is correlational + not causational

  - this means we cant claim that the relationship between early and later attachment has a cause and effect relationship eg temperment might be a varying factor

  
  

  retrospective classification

  - recollections on childhood attachment is likely to be flawed and inaccurate

  - however there are longitudinal studies which support the 'love quiz' study eg by simpson

  
  

  very deterministic

  - hazan and shaver suggests it has a fixed affecr on later relationships such as insecure kids being doomed as adults

  - this is often not always the case and many adults grow into securely attachment types despite not being this as a child

  
  

  not all the research shows correlations between early and later attachment types

  - Fraley reviewed 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later on in life, he found correlations from 0.5 to 0.1 (low)

  - he suggested the low correlations was because insecure attachment was unsustainable and people change to secure

  
  

  theres an alternative explanation:

  - feeney argues that adult attachment is due to the relationship not to childhood ones

  - self verification process, we seek others who confirm expectations of a relationship
• what is simpsons study


  a longitudinal attachment study

  - found that participants who were securely attached as infants had higher social competence as children, were closer to friends at 16 and were more expressive and emotionally attached to partners in adulthood