ABSTRACT
The concept of the "internal working model" is fundamental to understanding different theoretical approaches to the study of couple relationships from an attachment perspective. Repeated patterns of experience with attachment figures are registered in implicit memory in the form of scripts, or mental models, which are used throughout life to predict and relate to the environment. In assessing the relative influence of the past and the present on attachment dynamics, a distinction has been drawn between "continuous" and "discontinuous" developmental models. The perspective that considers the past to be a necessary and sufficient predictor of attachment security is known as the prototype hypothesis. The attachment security–or insecurity–an individual acquires through his or her childhood experiences is considered to be a kind of trait influencing couple relationships. Approaches that focus on the present seem to provide a good explanation for the relationship between the attachment styles of the partners and the functioning of a specific relationship.
