Outline Influence of Childhood Experiences on Adult Relationships Essay Example for Free

Outline Influence of Childhood Experiences on Adult Relationships try outIndividuals differ in their races psychologists have researched whether adult relationships ar related to early experiences in life. Bowlby believes that the type of relationship the individual has with their primitive caregiver gives a basis of a future relationship. This is called the internal operative model. The hero-worship of strangers represents an important survival mechanism, which is by nature, babies display social releasers which helps them ensure contact or proximity with the primary caregiver, as they similarly testament with their partner in their adult relationship. Another example of the internal working model is the continuity hypo thesis, which is a key theory to explaining infanthood or adolescent experiences on later adult relationships, where it states that childhood relationships will affect your future relationships, Mary Ainsworth explores this by looking at our relationshi ps as infants as concluded three types Secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant.Secure is where the infant is in a calm state stock-still without the presence of the primary caregiver, secure avoidant is where shows little distress, avoids contact with caregiver when returns, and insecure-resistant is when child shows a lot of distress, anxious(predicate) and nervous. This demonstrates the relationship that the child has with the primary caregiver when they are present and not present.This gives the child a isthmus of beliefs about themselves and the nature of the relationship with others, the continuity thesis sees this as a prophetical behaviour of future relationships. Hazen and Shaver alike devised a theory that supports the continuity thesis, they say that when a child perceives a threat to a relationship or themselves, they will feel frightened or worried, and then they seek the primary caregivers attention. Depending on the situation the appendage behaviour varies depending on the need of the child.They also discover adult relationships, where adults recipely feel safer and more(prenominal) secure when their partner is nearby and responsive, the partner may be used as a secure base, when they may feel sick or threatened they will seek attention of partner which mimics their infant-mother relationship. Another psychologist Freud, also looks into unresolved conflicts as a child, he colligate this into adult relationships, where he concluded that this could cause difficulty forming. He explains this using our defence mechanisms.Again, Hazer and Shaver supports the thesis as they published the love quiz in an American Newspaper, and found that the majority of responses were secure attachment which gave them long lasting happy and stable relationships, however this could be due to a social desirability, as only certain category of people would reply to the newspaper advertisement, for example middle class, or those that are happy in their rel ationship are more likely to respond to the ad rather than those in an unhappy unfulfilling relationship.The participants were given 3 statements which each reflected the type of attachments that Mary Ainsworth found, he found those who were securely connect trusted each other and was in a happy stable relationship, those who were insecure avoidant were uncomfortable beingness close to others and insecure resistant were likely to be possessive and preoccupied about their relationships.However this cartoon has been criticised for social desirability as participants may respond different knowingly that their information would be shared, and also for being retrospective as they are doing this from memory However there has been other explanations that suggests otherwise, for example Kagan presents the reputation hypothesis where different infants simply may just have different personalities, for Kagan the strange situation measures the constitution rather than attachment and the at tachment behaviours displayed are a reflection of this infants temperament.However the bizarre case study of the Czech twins would go against the continuity theory as to where their childhood attachment were abusive, unsatisfied and had no social or emotional bonds went to the opposite after they were adopted by two loving sisters who they create a normal loving bond and both went onto have long lasting stable relationships, this doesnt show that adult relationships replicating childhood attachments as they are still able to have normal relationships without experiencing it at childhood.The continuity thesis is also very reductionist as they dont take in any other consideration or factors that can affect their relationships, for example peer influence, cultural differences for example, a collectivist culture is more likely to spend most their time mothering the child, so they are more likely to form an insecure attachment, but can still go on to developing normal relationships.