Mini assignment Psychology Essay Research Coursework

PSY205 Mini-Assignment #4: Attachment in Adulthood INSTRUCTIONS & QUESTIONS One of the primary objectives for this week is to identify three commonly studied patterns of attachment (i.e., secure, avoidant, anxious-resistant) and describe how these patterns develop across the lifespan. The purpose of this mini-assignment is two-fold. First, it provides you with a hands-on illustration of how psychological researchers measure and make sense of attachment in adulthood. This is intended to encourage you to think about the strengths and limitations of trying to measure attachment across the lifespan. Second, by asking you to draw connections between your own history of attachment relationships and the reading/lecture, this exercise is intended to help you understand the developmental meaning of parent-child attachment experiences in early childhood. Completing this mini-assignment will involve taking one of the two adult attachment surveys described below and answering all of the five reflection questions at the end of this document. Your final product should include a single Word or PDF file with the answers to your questions. Create a new document. At the top include your name, your recitation section, and Mini-assignment #4. Include the question number and your response for each of the four questions. Your written responses should be double spaced and in Times New Roman 12 point font. Be sure to answer all of the questions. Submit the completed document as a single Word or PDF file to the Turnitin link in the Lecture Blackboard page. The final product should be no more than 2 pages long (shorter is perfectly fine). Academic Integrity policy reminder: All mini-assignments are to be completed entirely independently. If you have questions about the material or the assignment, ask your TA or Dr. Martin for help. Do NOT share your assignment in any form with any student for any reason. Do not ask others for their work. Your responses must be written using your own words. Do NOT copy/paste things from other sources. Doing so violates the academic integrity expectations for this course, and will result in a referral to the Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS) – the office that handles academic integrity cases. Please review SU’s academic integrity policy HERE and the course policy located in the syllabus (see page 22). If you have any questions about this policy, please contact your TA or Dr. Martin at least 48 hours before the assignment due date. Please note that Turnitin may mark the questions themselves as overlapping in your similarity report. This is not considered to be plagiarism. You only need to be concerned if your similarity report indicates that you have copied/pasted and/or otherwise used others’ words without due credit in your answers to the questions on the worksheet. Mini-assignment guidelines: • You must take one of the two surveys and answer all four questions in their entirety (make sure you answer each part!) • Write your responses using double-spaced 12 point Times New Roman font formatting • You must submit a Word or PDF document • The final product should be no more than 2 pages long (shorter is fine!) • You must draw specific links between your personal experiences and attachment theory/the reading for this week GRADING RUBRIC: Mini-assignment #4 will be graded as follows:  0 = Not turned in  3 = Incomplete. Student did not meet the bare minimum guidelines for this assignment. The student failed to answer most (2 or more) questions. It is clear that student did not complete the ECR or the alternate measure of adult attachment.  5 = Somewhat complete. The student failed to meet a significant number of guidelines for the assignment (e.g., leaving some parts of the questions unanswered) or their work included a number of inaccuracies suggesting that the student does not have a firm grasp of the basic attachment principles.  7 = Mostly complete. The student met almost all of the guidelines for this assignment, although there may be some inaccuracies or signs the student does not fully understand the principles of attachment. Signs of being inaccurate/incomplete include describing examples that don’t fit with the attachment pattern indicated; not providing specific examples at all. Overall, these minor inaccuracies are outweighed by the students’ general knowledge of the basics of attachment.  10 = Excellent. The student met all of the guidelines for this assignment, answering each question clearly and accurately. Their work was of good quality, clearly illustrating the students’ engagement with the material and contains minimal mistakes. If you are confused about these guidelines, please contact your TA at least 48 hours before the deadline for clarification. Mini-assignment #4 QUESTIONS Overview of The Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (short): Dr. Chris Fraley and colleagues created a measure of adult romantic attachment called the ECR. Fraley and Shaver suggest that attachment patterns can be divided into two orthogonal dimensions – anxiety and avoidance. People high on the anxiety dimension tend to worry a lot about whether their partners really love them and often fear rejection. People high on the avoidant dimension tend to be uncomfortable depending on and opening up to others. STEP #1: Take the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) measure (or, if you are not yet 18 years old, take Hazan & Shaver’s (1987) three-category measure of adult attachment). IF YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD: Go to the Attachment Styles & Close Relationships Webpage at http://www.web-research-design.net/cgibin/crq/crq.pl The screen will look like this: You want to take Survey Option A. It will take 10 minutes and you will be able to log in to view your results. Read your results and make note of your position on the grid. You should copy and paste your results or otherwise keep them open, as you will lose them if you log out. PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a diagnostic assessment. It is a valid and reliable measure of adult attachment styles (how you tend to be in romantic relationships), but it does not indicate that you do or do not have a mental disorder of any kind. It is intended only for educational purposes. If you’d like to learn more about the theory of adult attachment, there’s a really nice introduction on Dr. Chris Fraley’s website: http://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm IF YOU ARE NOT YET 18 YEARS OLD: The ECR is intended for individuals 18 years of age or older. If you are not yet 18 years of age, instead of completing the ECR online above, you can complete Hazan & Shaver’s (1987) three-category measure of adult attachment: The following questions are concerned with your experiences in romantic love relationships. Take a moment to think about these experiences and answer the following questions with them in mind. Read each of the three self-descriptions below (A, B, and C) and then place a checkmark next to the single alternative that best describes how you feel in romantic relationships or is nearest to the way you feel. (Note: The terms "close" and "intimate" refer to psychological or emotional closeness, not necessarily to sexual intimacy.) ______A. I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being. (Avoidant) ______B. I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don't worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me. (Secure) ______C. I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn't really love me or won't want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away. (Anxious-resistant) STEP #2: Interpret your results. Read through the results you receive from the ECR or the description you chose in the 3-category adult attachment measure. Thinking about these results and the material you read about attachment for class (see NOBA PDF #11), please provide a brief answer for each of the following four question sets: 1. Are the results you got on the ECR accurate? In other words, are the results consistent with how you experience close relationships as an adult? In what ways is it accurate? In what ways is it inaccurate? Please be specific. Did anything surprise you? 2. Think back on the times when you were young (around 3-4 years of age) and were really upset, sick, hurt, or scared. How did you parent(s) typically respond in these situations? What did your parent(s) say or do? Did their response help you to feel better? Why or why not? 3. Do you see any connections between your responses on the ECR/3-category assessment and your experiences with your parent(s) in early childhood? If yes, be specific about what connections you see. How might these early childhood experiences have shaped how you understand and behave in your close relationships as an adult? If you do not see clear connections, what is different? Why do you think your experiences across these two types of relationships are disconnected? 4. What advice would you give to parents who wish to ensure that their children form a secure attachment relationship? (Note: remember, attachment is about promoting safety in times of distress and threat, not merely “good parenting”). You do not need to write one single essay to complete this assignment. Instead, for each of the four question sets above, write the number of the set and then provide a brief, written answer. The entire assignment should not exceed 2 double-spaced pages (12pt Times New Roman font). This is a reflection piece. You don’t need to support your arguments with research evidence. It is okay to write this assignment in first person. I would like to hear your voice in this reflection. However, I do want you to fully explain your thinking. Draw specific connections between your answers to the question sets and the readings on attachment assigned for class. Please submit your completed assignment in Word or PDF online via Blackboard. Follow all guidelines for checking to ensure that you work is submitted correctly and before the deadline (i.e., get a confirmation email, go back in and check My Grades and/or the Turnitin portal).