PPT Slide
Are Attachment Scripts the Building Blocks of Attachment Representations? Narrative Assessment of Representations and the AAI
Approximately fifteen years ago, attachment research took a turn toward cognition and issues of representation (Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985). The adult attachment interview was developed in order to tap into individuals’ internal working models and the coherence of their attachment representations. Furthermore, an empirical link was established between security classifications on the interview and the adult’s relationship with their child suggesting that working models directed the individual’s interactions with their child. More recent findings have established a link between early attachment assessments at 12 – 18 months with the strange situation and security in early adulthood as assessed by the interview (E.Waters, Merrick, Treboux, Crowell, & Albersheim, 2000)
In this empirical context, the nature of attachment working models and how they develop is critical for understanding these findings and for suggesting mechanisms responsible for the cognition-behavior connections that have been reported.