Internal working model of attachment is a psychological approach that attempts to describe the development of mental representations, specifically the worthiness of the self and expectations of others' reactions to the self.
[1] John Bowlby implemented this model in his attachment theory in order to explain how infants act in accordance with these mental representations.
[3] He argued that the resulting mental representation is an internal copy of the external world made up from memories, and thinking serves the role of experimental action.
[2] Ainsworth observed mother-infant interaction and came to the conclusion that individual differences in reaction to separation could not be explained by simple absence or presence of the caregiver but must be the result of a cognitive process.
[4] In the context of survival, a healthy internal working model helps the infant to maintain proximity to their caregiver in the face of threat or danger.
Due to the relative immaturity of the infant at birth, offspring that manages to maintain a close relationship to their caregiver by seeking their proximity has a survival advantage.
[4] A close emotional bond to the caregiver is therefore crucial for protection from physical harm, and thus the internal working model mediates attachment.
[6] Specifically, caregiving is regulated by behavioural processes complementary to the infant’s proximity-seeking, e.g. the baby smiles, the adult feels reward as a result.
[4] Having an adequate internal model or representation of the self and the caregiver also serves the adaptive function of ensuring appropriate interpretation and prediction of, as well as response to the environment.
[8][6] Lastly, if the infant can be sure about the availability of the attachment figure, it will be less prone to fear due to the supportive presence or secure base function of the caregiver, which makes exploration of the environment and hence learning possible.
[8] Infants develop different types of internal working models dependent on two factors: the responsiveness and accessibility of the parent and the worthiness of the self to be loved and supported.
Thus, by the age of three years, infants will have developed several expectations about how attachment figures will react to their need for help and start to evaluate how likely the self is worth of support in general.
The third category is classified as the preoccupied model, indicating a combination of negative self-evaluation and the appreciation of others, which makes them overly dependent on their environment.
[8] Accordingly, a child whose caretaker exhibits high levels of parental sensitivity, responsiveness and reliability is likely to develop a positive internal working model of the self.
Conversely, frequent experiences of unreliability and neglect by the attachment figure foster the emergence of negative internal working models of self and others.
[12] As infants have been shown to possess the social and cognitive capacities necessary to form internal working models, initial development of these may occur within the first year of life.
[11][3] Once established, internal working models are assumed to remain largely consistent over time, developing primarily in complexity and sophistication.