AO1 Influence of early attachment

• Internal working model: a child having their first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation of this relationship. This internal working model acts as a template for future relationships.
• The quality of the child’s first attachment is crucial because this template will powerfully affect the nature of their future relationships. A child whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver will tend to assume that this is how relationships are meant to be. They will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them
• A child with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences to bear on later relationships. This may mean they struggle to form relationships in the first place or they may not behave appropriately when they have them, displaying type A or C behaviour towards friends and partners.
• Kerns suggested that attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood. Securely attached infants tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached infants later have friendship difficulties
• Which attachment type is most unlikely to be involved in bullying?

  Secure attachment (type B)
• Which attachment is most likely to be victims of bullying?

  Insecure avoidant
• Which attachment type is most likely to be bullies?

  Insecure resistant
• What did McCarthy do?

  Assessed romantic relationships and friendships of 40 women who had been assessed when they were infants to establish their early attachment type
• What were the findings of McCarthy?

  Those assessed as securely attached infants had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships. Adults classed as insecure-resistant as infants had particular problems maintaining friendships whilst those classed as insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships.
• Who conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships?

  Hazan and Shaver
• What was the procedure of Hazan and Shaver’s study?

  They analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had three sections. The first assessed respondents’ current or most important relationship. The second part assessed general love experiences such as number of partners. The third section assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of three statements best described their feelings.
• What were the findings of Hazan and Shaver’s study?

  56% of respondents were identified as securely attached with 25% insecure- avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. Those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences. The avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy. These findings suggest that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships.
• Internal working models also affect the child’s ability to parent their own children. People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family. (Bailey et al.)