early influences of attachment

• Bowlbys concept of the internal working model (IWM) is similar to a schema. An infant will learn about a relationship from experience, most likely to be the attachment between the infant and their parents, as well as just seeing their parents relationship. This then allows the individual to predict future relationships. Hazan and Shaver developed a study to test the IWM. They posted a questionare in the Rocky Mountain News asking about current and past attachment histories. They also asked questions about feelings towards love.
• They analysed 620 responses which found the prevalence of attachment was similar to those found in infancy. First was secure, then insecure avoidant and then insecure resistant. They also found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences. Securely attached infants describes their relationships as happy an trusting. Their relationships were said to be 10 years on average. This was compered to 5/6 years on average for resistant and avoidant participants. They also found that secure participants tended to have a most positive internal working model.
• There are many influences of the IWM such as romantic relationships, as seen above, poor parenting as supported by Harlow as his monkeys went on to being poor parents, mental health which is due to having worse relationships when not securely attached and lastly childhood friendships. The Minesota child-parent study showed that securely attached kids went onto being more socially competent and more popular in later childhood.
• An issue with this research is that the results are correlational rather than experimental. This means there is no cause and effect or control of extraneous or confounding variables which are influencing the study. For example, an infants temperament could be hard to deal with so theyre not classed as secure and lead to worst relationships due to being hard to get along with rather than attachment type.

  This suggests that the researchers cant claim that early influencing of attachment affect later relationships as this has not be empirically tested.
• Another issue with this study is the retrospective classification.

  When adults are asked about past experiences, especially from childhood, their answers are likely to be flawed. This is due to potentially misremembering and just being inaccurate all together. The participants could have also be using demand characteristics, and just putting what they think they should put.

  This decreases the validity of the findings due to it potentially being inaccurate and not actually providing properly tested results.
• However, there are longitudinal studies that support this study.

  For example, an ongoing longitudinal study found that the participants who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as a child, were closer to their friends at 16 years old and were more romantically attached to their partners in adulthood.

  This supports the view that attachment type does go on to predict and influence adult life and the relationships the individual will have.

   
• Another criticism is that the study is overly determinist.

  Hazan and Shaver suggest that the attachment type you have as an infant, will influence your relationships in the future, if youre not securely attached you will have less friends, less independence and shorter relationships. However this isn’t the case as many people who didn’t have the secure attachment type go on to be well attached adults, with the same characteristics as secure children.

  This suggests that your attachment type doesn’t always conclude your future