Hazen & Shaver: The Love Study

Level: AS Levels, A Level, GCSE – Exam Boards: Edexcel, AQA, OCR, WJEC, IB, Eduqas – Psychology Revision Notes

HAZEN & SHAVER: The Love Story

Aim:

– to explore the possibility that attachment theory offers as a perspective on adult romantic
love and to create a framework for understanding love, loneliness, and grief at different points in
the life cycle.

Method:

– analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ about people’s inner feelings and romantic relationships

– checklist describing childhood relationships with parents, relating to the same childhood relationships with parents and the same attachment types. Two samples were tested

– 205 men and 415 women between 14 and 82 years were used

– assessed the attachment type of the individuals, by collecting results of them responding
to one of the three statements

Results:

– Within both samples, those suggested as ‘securely attached’ has described their love relationship as ‘happy’, ‘friendly’ and ‘trusting’. These participants had long-lasting relationships.

– Securely attached participants expressed beliefs of lasting love. They trusted others and were confident in themselves as being likeable.

– Insecure avoidant participants were more doubtful about the existence of romantic love and expressed more concerns.

– Insecure resistant individuals repressed feelings of security

– Both insecure types were vulnerable to loneliness

Conclusion:

– Children’s attachment styles were correlated by the degree of sensitivity shown by mothers

– Adults mental model differ according to its attachment styles

– Securely attached are more positive ad optimistic about themselves

– People with insecure attachment are more vulnerable to loneliness

Evaluation:

– Generalisability:

• large sample (s)
• more women than men (w)
• ethnocentric – all American (w)
• only newspaper (w)

– Reliability:

• fixed questions allow for replicability (s)
• correlation, not causation (w)

– Applicability:

• can be applied to other geographical areas (s)

– Validity:

• internal validity (s)
• lacks ecological validity (w)

– Ethics:

• no deceit present (s)

EXAM QUESTIONS

Q1) Discuss research into the influence of early attachment on adult relationships (16 marks)

Q2) Describe the procedure taken place during the Hazen & Schaffer ‘Love quiz’ (6 marks)