2. Attachment Style Questionnaire
• Undertake the ‘Revised Adult Attachment
Scale’ (Collins, 1996) on page 4 of excerpt 5 in
todays pack.
• Do not worry about the final ‘scoring’ of this.
1. Do questionnaire such as this (and the final
SPSS type analysis) mean that ‘attachment’ is
scientifically provable?
3. What is ‘attachment’? (from Page,
2011: cited in Turner in today’s pack)
• 1950’s John Bowlby
• Influenced by Freud and ‘drive’ based
understandings of motivation.
• Systemic theory: Individual behaviours
mediated by feedback within the ecological
context (system).
• Although focused on infancy; attachment
continues to play a part throughout the life
course.
4. The role of ‘fear’
• ‘Dependent’ childhood behaviours are often
rooted in internal responses to fear inducing
stimuli/contexts (see Ainsworth in the article
for more on this).
• (Secure) Personality devolopment neccessitate
s that the child overcome these fears and
develop ‘mastery’ and ‘autonomy’.
5. See Bifulco & Thomas (2013)in today’s
pack for a detailed explanation
11. Applying ‘attachment’ theory to a cartoon video
clip/comic strip (This type of thing is what is being
asked of you in the assignment!)
12. Conclusion
• We might observe that some people appear to
adopt ‘rigid’ life positions which influences
their interactions with others and broader
‘outcomes’.
• These ‘life positions’ might be explained in
terms of ‘attachment styles’.
• NB: Does ‘attachment theory’ have a scientific
basis or does it have a purely heuristic value?
