Browsing by Subject "Adult attachment"

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Open Access
From an unknown other to an attachment figure: How do mental representations change as attachments form?
(Springer, 2015) Günaydın, Gül; Zayas, V.; Shoda, Y.
Mental representations are the building blocks that guide affect, thought, and behaviors within adult attachment relationships. To date, research has focused on how individual differences in mental representations meaningfully relate to a person’s chronic attachment style and the attachment dynamics of a specific relationship, as well as their effects on perception, behavior, physiology, well-being, and other consequential outcomes. In the present chapter, we address a fundamentally different question: How do mental representations change as two individuals develop an attachment bond in adulthood? We propose a social cognitive framework for understanding how mental representations of others and self change over time as a function of various relationship turning points and lead to the formation of a full-fledged attachment bond. We propose that the positive psychological and physical outcomes, as well as the emotion regulatory effects, observed in pair bonds occur as a result of the two people forming over time a linked or “coupled” cognitive system. This “coupled” or “interlocked” system reflects enduring changes at the level of mental representations in the minds of both individuals, including elaboration and increased chronic accessibility of the partner mental representation, increased interconnectedness between self and partner representation, and automaticity of behavioral scripts. We review literature from diverse fields, including social and cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and integrate it within this social cognitive approach. We end by identifying questions and avenues for future research.
Open Access
The origins of individual differences in romantic attachment: evolutionary psychological insights
(2016-05) Yılmaz, Cansu
The current thesis investigated the hypothesis that evolved psychological mechanisms producing adult attachment strategies are sensitive to personal and contextual inputs linked to costs and benefits of alternative attachment strategies. Three studies were designed to 1) identify the link between the inputs “early parental environment, speed of life, and mate value” and attachment strategies; 2) examine temporary activation of adult attachment mechanisms in response to a blind date opportunity with individuals varying in physical attractiveness; and 3) test the relationship between physical attractiveness and secure base use behavior in couples experimentally manipulating physical attractiveness. Study 1 results showed adult attachment mechanisms up-regulated both men’s and women’s attachment anxiety in response to low mate value and low quality early parental environment; men’s attachment avoidance in response to fast life speed and low quality early parental environment; women’s attachment avoidance in response to fast life speed and low mate value. Study 2 results showed both men and women exhibited an anxious attachment strategy in response to a blind date opportunity with an individual of high physical attractiveness whereas only women exhibited an avoidant strategy in response to a blind date opportunity with an individual of average physical attractiveness. Study 3 results revealed a positive correlation between women’s ratings of facial attractiveness and secure base use scores; between individuals’ physical attractiveness and their secure base scores specifically among individuals who compared themselves to attractive others. These results enhance the understanding of the origins of individual differences in adult romantic attachment.