Early Attachments and Lifelong Relationships

This psychology assignment examines the profound influence of early childhood attachments on the formation of lifelong relationships. Students are tasked with discussing the continuity hypothesis and internal working models, drawing upon research by Ainsworth, Bowlby, and Hazan & Shaver to illustrate how secure and insecure attachment styles contribute to relationship success. The essay emphasizes the enduring impact of early bonding experiences on an individual's capacity for love and connection throughout life.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
’Discuss the importance of early attachments for the lifelong formation of relationships’.
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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PSYCHOLOGY
Many psychologists have argued that early attachments are having an impact on the
later relationship that an individual forms. The emotional association that is formed in
between the infant and their caregiver is the only way where the baby can get its basic needs
met in their helpless state. This further becomes the motor for their following social,
emotional as well as cognitive developments (Lamb, 2013). Therefore, attachment is a strong
and enduring emotional relationship that binds one person with another. In this essay, the
discussion will be on the importance of early attachments for the lifelong formation of
relationships.
As stated in the continuity hypothesis that there exist uniformity between the early
emotional attachments and the relationships that are formed later in a lifespan and it also
observes that an individual’s attachment style in their childhood is reflected in their later
relationships (Holmes, 2014). However, this idea is established upon the internal working
model that has been proposed by Bowlby in his theory of monotropic. According to Bowlby,
attachment is monotropic that means infants has an inborn tendency where they can form an
attachment with a particular individual. Thus, the attachment that they form is strongest of all
relationships and act as a model for their future relationships. The infant depending on this
model will expect similar relationships with others in the future (Ludolph, 2012). Therefore,
the idea of this internal working model is mainly a framework for the following relationships
that is built upon the infant’s early attachments and effects the upcoming relationships in their
lifespan. Many attachment theories are there which a child can develop in their infancy, as
Ainsworth has divided these into secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant while; he
was focusing with his ‘strange situation’ research. As found in Johnson’s book of 2014, it
was seen that based on Ainsworth’s researches and the predictions of Bowlby, Hazan and
Shaver built an experiment named ‘love quiz’ to investigate the notion that there is a
consistency between the attachments build in early life with that of the romantic relationships

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that are formed in later life. The study came up with the result that those who have
experienced secure attachment in their childhood inclined to have long lasting relationship
formations throughout their lives whereas, those who have experienced insecure attachments
are found to struggle with their adult relationships and more inclined to divorce and doubtful
that whether love really exists or not. Therefore, this study highly supports that fact that early
attachments play a vital role in the formation of relationships in the later life. However if the
finding of Ainsworth’s research on attachment is to be considered then it can be said that his
findings is similar with the association between the attachment style of adults and their
remembrance of the parenting styles that they have received in their infancy. The outcome of
Ainsworth’s research suggests that the attachment styles of the infants are very much
associated with the degree of sensitivity manifested by their caregivers especially their
mothers (Bowlby & Ainsworth, 2013).
The basis of an individual’s later life relationships and their approaches will depend
on their oedipal stage of childhood development. The needs that are not met in these
childhood stages will be shaped in their adult psyche, waiting for a chance to be vented
through the deep-rooted child in the adult through projection or pressure onto their partner.
Each individual had to go through a developmental phrase from their very early life and these
stages in turn helps the child to shape their expectations to relate their childhood experiences
with later relationships (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2010). Every individual needs an
impactful social engagement system so that they can establish an attachment as well as
affiliative relationships. However, this social engagement system is built and is determined
by the experience in the early attachments that an individual has with that of their caregivers
to give the context through which an adult will have the tendencies for regulating the arousal
of stimulus and give the reaction. Therefore, any kind of disruptions in the bonds with the
caregiver in the early life will have a major impact for how one will deal with relationships in

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the following lifetime. This will show up that there is a decrease capacity to measure arousal
of stimulus from that of the interior as well as exterior sources, associating in developing
healthy relationships as well as the capability to cope with stress (Comer, Gould & Furnham,
2013). Moreover, a child will learn through this social engagement system that how to
experience safety along with maintaining to return to arousal to a casement of tolerance by
lessening their Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and Dorsal Vagal parts in the brain as well
as the Nervous system. Therefore, this becomes the foundation for the relationship
experiences in one’s life to have that ability to tolerate, summon and even transform those
difficult experiences but can be turn into opportunities for development. In a research study
by Kochanska and Sanghag in 2013 stated that early attachments not only has an effect on the
later life relationships but also has an impact on an individual’s behavior. It further stated that
relationships of the children with their parents are analyzed in strange situations with each
parent for 15months. It has been perceived that children who are ‘double secure’ which
means are equally attached to both parents are the ones having more issues than those who
are having a secured attachment with only one parent (Karreman & Vingerhoets, 2012).
Thus, from the above essay it can be concluded that early attachment plays an
important role for the lifelong formation of relationships in an individual. However, from the
various researches it has been found that from the researches done by Ainsworth, he has
grouped attachment types into three main categories that is secure, insecure avoidant and
insecure resistant. Moreover, the concepts of consistency hypothesis as well as internal
working models also seems to contribute highly on the attachments that one is building
during the early years of life. Therefore, securely attached children are more inclined to have
successful lifelong relationships rather than those who are insecurely attached.

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Reference
Bowlby, J., & Ainsworth, M. (2013). The origins of attachment theory. Attachment Theory:
Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives, 45.
Comer, R., Gould, E., Furnham, A. (2013). Psychology, UK: Wiley and Sons
Holmes, J. (2014). The search for the secure base: Attachment theory and psychotherapy.
Routledge.
Johnson, S. (2014). Attachment: The key to love. Psychotherapy in Australia, 20(2), 54.
Karreman, A., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2012). Attachment and well-being: The mediating role of
emotion regulation and resilience. Personality and Individual differences, 53(7), 821-826.
Kochanska, G., & Kim, S. (2013). Early attachment organization with both parents and future
behavior problems: From infancy to middle childhood. Child development, 84(1), 283-
296.
Lamb, M. E. (2013). Infant-mother attachment: The origins and developmental significance of
individual differences in Strange Situation behavior. Routledge.
Ludolph, P. S. (2012). The special issue on attachment: Overreaching theory and data. Family
Court Review, 50(3), 486-495.
Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R. &Buskist, W. (2010). Psychology. (4th Edition). Hove: Pearson
Education