Internal Working Models
One particularly interesting study assesses the workings of adults' internal working models through the use of the Adult Attachment Interview, an interview designed to measure parents' state of mind with respect to attachment (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985). During the interview, parents are asked to describe and evaluate their childhood memories of attachment experiences in important relationships. How parents interpret their experiences provides an overall impression of the adults' working models. Four specific and distinct patterns emerge that show that the assessment of mothers' attachment security consistently corresponds to the attachment classification of their children. In fathers this relation is less clear, which indicates that caregiving is the determining factor, not heredity. This 'transmission' of attachment patterns supports the idea of internal working models that extend into adulthood as guides for future relationships, as well as indicates that attachment security is stable over time.