IB Psychology HL 3.2.5 Attachment Questions

Refer to the paper 2 assessment criteria when awarding marks.
The command term "examine" requires candidates to uncover the assumptions and interrelationships between childhood attachment and relationships later in life.

Responses should highlight that research has found several indications of associations between attachment in childhood and relationship development in later life even if there is no clear evidence of direct causality.

Relevant studies may include, but are not limited to:
- Pratt and Norris (1994) showed that, among older people, the more positive their earlier attachment relationships, the more positive their reports on their current social relationships.
- Hazan and Shaver (1987) showed similarities between romantic love as experienced by adults and the characteristics of attachment.
- Sternberg and Beall (1991) pointed out that many adults find that their relationships vary: with one partner, they experience an insecure bond, but with the next a secure one. Similarly, research into infant attachment has shown that a child could be securely attached to one parent, but be anxious towards the other.

Responses referring to research with animals, such as Harlow's experiments with rhesus monkeys, are relevant but must be linked to attachment in human children and its role in the subsequent formation of relationships.

In order to demonstrate knowledge relevant to the question, responses should focus on the effect of attachment in childhood on later formation of relationships. Descriptions of research on attachment in childhood with no link to subsequent formation of relationships (such as Bowlby or Ainsworth) should be awarded up to a maximum of [4] for criterion A, knowledge and understanding, up to a maximum of [3] for criterion B, critical thinking, and up to a maximum of [2] for criterion C, organization.