The influence of early attachments

• Bowlby proposed the idea of the internal working model, the quality of an infant's primary attachment would have a positive correlation with the quality of later attachments. The interactions with a child's primary attachment figure determines subsequent relationships with friends, partners and their own children
• The internal working model is similar to a schema as an infant learns about a relationship from their primary caregiver experience, what relationships are and how partners behave towards each other.
• Procedure of Hazan and Shaver's study in the internal working model


  Hazan and Shaver produced a "love quiz" to test the internal working model. The quiz asked about current attachment experiences and attachment history, to identify current and childhood attachment types. The questionnaire also asked about attitudes towards love, testing the internal working model.

  They analysed 620 responses, 205 men and 415 women
• Findings of Hazan and Shaver's study

  They found that attachment styles in adulthood were similar to those in infancy - 56% secure, 25% avoidant and 19% resistant

  • There was a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences. Securely attached adults had happier, more trusting, accepting and enduring relationships
  • They also found a positive correlation between concept of love (internal working model) and attachment types. People with secure attachments had a positive internal working model
• Behaviours influenced by the internal working model (IWM)

  • Childhood friendships
  • Poor parenting
  • Romantic relationships
  • Mental health
• Influences of the internal working model

  Childhood friendships

  Minnesota child-parent study showed early attachments effect social behaviour. Securely attached infants were more social. Explained by IWM as they had positive relationships early, they expect other to be like this and so are friendly to others

  • Bullying, securely attached children are less likely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant are more likely to be victims and insecure-resistant and more likely to be the bullies.
• Influences of the internal working model

  Poor parenting 


  As shown in a Harlow's research, poor parenting is due to early attachments, the monkeys used in his study struggled with parenting later in life

  Quinton et Al found the same happened in humans, the lack of a positive IWM means individuals lack a reference point to form secure relation with their own children
• Influences of the internal working model

  Romantic relationships


  As shown in Hazan and Shaver's study. Early attachment types affect later relationships. Individuals who were securely attached had longer lasting romantic relationships as adults.
• Influences of the internal working model

  Mental health

  Lack of secure 🔐 attachments during critical period means a lack of a positive IWM, children develop and attachment disorder in which they have an inability to interact and relate with others and have no preferred attachment figure. Having an attachment disorder has recently been classed as a distinct psychiatric condition
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  Research is correlational

  Research into IWM with later relationships is correlational, not experimental. We cannot claim the correlation between early attachment types and later love is causal. It's possible infant attachments and later love styles are caused by something else (e.g. innate temperaments). A temperament affects the way parents responds, determining attachment types. This can also determine their good/bad future relationships.

  Researchers cannot claim IWM determines later relationships, due to the intervening variable of temperament
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  Retrospective classification


  The adults were asked about their early lives to assess infant attachments, their recollections were likely to be flawed as past memories are not always accurate.

  However, longitudinal studies have also supported Hazan and Shaver's research, securely attached infants were highly social, had secure friendships and positive romantic relationships. Suggesting research may be accurate as studies reflect the results found, increasing validity
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  Overly deterministic


  Suggests early attachments fix how later adult relationships will be. Children who have early insecure attachments are "doomed" to have emotionally unhappy relationships in adulthood. This is not necessarily the case, researchers have found many people grow up to have happy adult romantic relationships, despite not having secure attachments in infancy.

  Suggesting our future is not determined by infancy
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  An alternative explanation

  Adult attachments may be properties of relationships, rather than the individual. Adults are guided by a self-verification process where we seek others who confirm expectations of relationships. As the adult e.g has a secure relationship, they then have a secure attachment type. The secure relationship as an adult causes the attachment type and not early attachments