INFLUENCE OF EARLY ATTACHMENT

AO1:
Later childhood:
 The type of attachment formed is associated
with the quality of peer relationships within
childhood
 Securely attached infants go on to form the
best peer relationships/childhood friendships
where as insecurely attached infants tend to
have friendship difficulties
 (Smith et al.) – Bullying behaviour can also be
linked to attachment type
 Securely attached children are very unlikely to
be involved in any bullying
 Insecure avoidant children were most likely to
be victims of bullying
Adulthood: Maternal deprivation (emotional and
 According to the internal working model, the intellectual):
first relationship formed between an infant and
caregiver will provide a mental representation Emotional effects
which is a template for future relationships  Affectionless psychopathy and the difficulty to
form later relationships
 The quality of the child’s first attachment will
determine the quality of their future Intellectual effects
relationships  Mental retardation
 (Goldforb) – institutionalised children have
 A child’s who’s first experience us that of a lower IQs due to a lack of intellectual
loving relationship will have a good template stimulation
for future relationships
 Where as a child who’s first experience of
attachment is bad is going to have a bad
template for future relationships

 Insecure resistant children were most likely to

be bullies

 Supporting evidence
P A strength of research into early
influence of attachment on adult
relationships is that there is
supporting research
E For example, Hazan and Shaver
asked participants to take part in E For example, Fraley conducted a
a ‘Love Quiz’ which asked about
current relationship experiences,
their attitudes towards ‘love’ and
aimed to identify the participants’
childhood attachment types. The
found a positive correlation
between the attachment type
and love experiences. Securely
attached adults described their
love experiences as happy and
trusting and they also have longer
relationships than those with
resistant or avoidant attachment
types
E This suggests that childhood
attachment type has some
influence over later relationships,
with secure attachments
associated with more successful
relationships
L These results therefore increase
the validity of theories such as
Bowlby’s internal working model,
as we can see early attachments
act as a template that affects
future relationships
AO2/AO3:
ー Refuting evidence ー Research is correlational
P A weakness of our understanding P A weakness of research on the
of early attachment on later influence of early attachment on
development is there is refuting later relationships is that it is
evidence for the internal working correlational
model E For example, research linking
IWM and early attachment with
review of 27 samples where later relationships is correlational
infants were assessed in infancy rather than experimental, thus
and reassessed later in childhood. we can’t claim that attachment
He found correlations ranging quality causes relationship
from 0.1 to 0.5. Such low experiences in later life to be
correlations indicate that the positive or negative. Moreover,
attachment type that infants factors like temperament may
have may not be stable through affect the quality of childhood
the course of their childhood and adult relationships.
E Therefore, this contradicts the According to Kagan, an infant’s
proposal that early attachments temperament is likely to
set a long-lasting, stable template influence many aspects of a
for future relationships person’s development, including
L This reduces the validity of their attachments
Bowlby’s internal working model E This is a problem as this indicates
that early attachments are only
part of the explanation of future
relationships and should not be
seen as the cause of these
relationships
L As a result of the issues with the
research, the validity of this
explanation is reduced
ー Too deterministic
P A weakness of the IWM as an
explanation of adult relationships
is that it is too deterministic
E The internal working model
suggests that early experiences
have a fixed effect on later adult
relationships and children who
are insecurely attached are
certain not to experience
satisfactory relationships in their
adult life. However, Clarke and
Clarke have argued that problems
with attachment in early life do
not guarantee difficult future
relationships, they just increase
the risk of them. Furthermore, an
individual who did not have a
good relationship with their
caregiver or caregivers may make
an active effort to form better
relationships in future
E This indicates that individuals
have more conscious control over
the success of future
relationships than according to
the internal working model
L Therefore, the IWM is overly
deterministic in its perspective on
adult relationships

NOTE: Only select the relevant AO1s (e.g. 2/3 points) and four evaluation points (AO2/AO3)