Effect on adult romantic relationships
Cards (9)
- What was Hazen and Shaver's aim?to investigate the impact of early attachments on later life adult behaviour by conducting a 'love quiz'
- Hazen and Shaver's procedure
- they analysed 620 replies to the love quiz (which was printed in an American local newspaper)
- the quiz had 3 sections
- a part that assessed the respondents current or most important relationship
- a part that assessed general love experiences (e.g how many partners)
- a part that assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of 3 statements best described their feelings
- What did Hazen and Shaver find? (PERCENTAGES)
- 56% of respondents were identified as securely attached
- 25% identified as insecure avoidant
- 19% as insecure resistant
- What did Hazen and Shaver find?
- those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and longer lasting relationships
- those reporting avoidant responses tended to reveal jealousy and a fear of intimacy
- What did Hazen and Shaver conclude?
- that the patterns of attachment behaviour in infancy are reflected in adult romantic relationships
- McCarthy
- studied 40 women (aged 25-44) with insecure childhood attachments
- found that insecure avoidant individuals had less successful adult romantic relationships
- insecure resistant individuals had problems forming non-romantic adult friendships
- McCarthy's research supports the internal working model
- Zimmerman
- found that early attachment type as an infant did not predict the quality of later relationships with life events such as parental divorce having more influence
- Wood
- believed that relationships are the result of both of the partners attachment styles
- therefore, an insecurely attached person can have a secure relationship with a securely attached person
- Belsky
- found that women with secure childhood attachments experienced less conflict with husbands and were more committed to relationships
- this idea supports Bowlby's "internal working model"