weaknesses/criticisms

• love quiz has methodological issues 


  -retrospective data

  -Ps think back many months/years

  -memories may not be correct

  -social desirability bias as talking about personal topics

  -change answers to be seen in best light

  -Ps volunteered so sample likely biased with people happy in relationships > results can't be generalised

  -supporting evidence for early attachment influencing later relationships is flawed

  -evolutionary theory may not be valid
• deterministic

  -not just childhood attachments influence future relationships

  -experience of divorce during childhood

  -cheating within their past relationships

  -some suggest we have innate temperament that determines how well we form relationships

  -many other factors affect later relationships besides IWM
• evidence refuting monotropy idea

  -some disagree & feel that healthy psychological development isn't best served by having one primary attachment

  -different attachments may serve different needs of infant

  -fathers style of play more physically stimulating & unpredictable

  -mothers more likely to hold infants, soothe them, attend their needs & need stories

  -isn't an attachment that's more important, they're equally important in different ways
• critical period may not be so absolute 


  -research shown children who're adopted after critical period can form attachments

  -if extra effort is put in

  -2 and a half years may be sensitive period rather than cut-off point

  -shows Bowlby's idea of critical period is flawed