Attachment internal working models as cognitive schemes linking early relationships to flexibility and adjustment¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article frames attachment through Bowlby's internal working models: early caregiving relationships form mental representations of ego and others that guide later close relationships. It links these models to cognitive schemes via Rothbard and Shaver's four connected elements, which are "autobiographic memory", "beliefs and attitude", "aims and motives" and "behaviour strategies", and uses Bartholomew and Horowitz's four attachment styles (secure, obsessed, afraid, negligent) as the measurement framework in the study.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Attachment styles are measured with the Relationship Scale Survey's four subscales

Constraints¶

• The framework is applied to university students without psychological or psychiatric problems in this study

Target Learners¶

• university students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• cognitive flexibility
• psychological adjustment
• interpersonal relationship skills

Claims¶

• Direction Of Predictor Flexibility Relationships [+M]
• Hostility and afraid attachment do not meaningfully predict cognitive flexibility, while the other variables do [+W]
• Irrational beliefs, obsessive attachment and anxiety are the strongest stepwise predictors of cognitive flexibility in one correlational study of university students [+W]
• Attachment styles, irrational beliefs and psychological symptoms jointly explain approximately 41% of the variance in university students' cognitive flexibility [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Bartholomew and Horowitz four-category model of adult attachment
• Executive Function Development

Examples¶

• School-based counselling that targets irrational beliefs, attachment patterns and anxiety to support students' cognitive flexibility

Key Sources¶

• Bülent GÜNDÜZ. (2013). The Contributions of Attachment Styles, Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Symptoms to the Prediction of Cognitive Flexibility. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13(4), 2079-2085. https://doi.org/10.12738/estp.2013.4.1702