Concept
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expectations, feelings and behaviour, why a child who has been rejected may come to see itself as unworthy, and how outdated models can persist yet be revised.
Read more- Broader concept
- Attachment theory
- Introduced by
- John Bowlby
introduced by
- John Bowlby 1969 Bowlby adapted the idea of an internal model of the world from Kenneth Craik's The Nature of Explanation (1943) and made working models of self and attachment figures a core part of attachment theory.