Disclaimer: As you read about this theory, you might experience uncomfortable feelings. Remember that is normal and that if you need help dealing with this feeling you can reach mental health services. Some of these services can be found on the syllabus and in Bb under the tab “Mental Health.” Learning Outcome: After doing this assignment, you will have a better understanding of the importance of attachment and attachment theory.
- Explain the way the attachment system works and its evolutionary significance.
- Identify three commonly studied attachment patterns and what is known about the development of those patterns.
- Describe what is known about the consequences of secure versus insecure attachment in adult relationships.
Use this second link to know the actual steps to create a secure attachment. — Read: the Full article to help you better understand attachment and attachment theory. Assignment:
- Then read the three choices (a, b, c, ) and select one to discuss. This will be a personal response of 500 words total.
Link: To the whole Article. What is below is under the subtitle “Attachment in Adulthood.” Hazan and Shaver ( 1987) asked a diverse sample of adults to read the three paragraphs below and indicate which paragraph best characterized the way they think, feel, and behave in close relationships:
- I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.
- I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.
- I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away.
Conceptually, these descriptions were designed to represent what Hazan and Shaver considered to be adult analogues of the kinds of attachment patterns Ainsworth described in the strange situation (avoidant, secure, and anxious, respectively). Hazan and Shaver ( 1987) found that the distribution of the three patterns was similar to that observed in infancy. In other words, about 60% of adults classified themselves as secure (paragraph B), about 20% described themselves as avoidant (paragraph A), and about 20% described themselves as anxious-resistant (paragraph C). Moreover, they found that people who described themselves as secure, for example, were more likely to report having had warm and trusting relationships with their parents when they were growing up. In addition, they were more likely to have positive views of romantic relationships. Based on these findings, Hazan and Shaver ( 1987) concluded that the same kinds of individual differences that exist in infant attachment also exist in adulthood.
