Internal working model

In attachment theory, the mental representation of the attachment figures, of oneself and of the relationship between them, which a child builds up from repeated experiences of care. Bowlby took the notion of an inner model of the world from the psychologist Kenneth Craik and used it to explain how early relationships go on guiding later expectations, feelings and behaviour, why a child who has been rejected may come to see itself as unworthy, and how outdated models can persist yet be revised.