Week 4: Post 1

In this week's discussion we focused on avoidance and attachment. After watching the video, what I found interesting was the fact that shyness is genetic. In the experiment with the monkeys, the researcher took genetically shy monkeys and paired them with outgoing foster mother monkeys. Then, the baby monkeys were placed back with their biological mothers and reverted back to being shy. I had never heard of this ever happening. In personal experience, through my life I am learning to not be shy. When I was younger, I was terribly shy. Today, I have a job in patient care and it would be a major disadvantage to my work ability to be really shy, so over time, I have learned to become more outgoing and sociable.

Also, in this week's discussion took a survey based on our romantic relationships. My results showed that I have low anxiety and high avoidance with my previous relationship, but with my current relationship, I have even lower anxiety and low avoidance. I think this survey would be more accurate if they were to ask if the relationship ended poorly or on good terms because I feel this would have an effect on avoidance and anxiety. My relationship ended 4 years ago and I cannot remember if it was mutual or not, but I have no desire to see my ex nor have I seen him since we ended our relationship; so, I suppose that would contribute to my survey results.

Lastly, in the research article I cited it showed a relationship between adult attachment and childhood depression. In the first part of the experiment, the researchers looked at maternal attachment and depression. In the second part, the researchers looked at the parental relationships (together or separated) and depression. The results showed that low maternal attachment correlated with high incidence of depression symptoms. In part 2, divorced parents lead to high depression symptoms in the children. As I said in my discussion, I feel that the second part is based on the relationship of the parents even after the divorce. If the parents have a positive relationship after the divorce, I would expect for the depression symptoms to decrease; whereas, poor relationships would lead to more depression symptoms.