Adult attachment Flashcards
1
Q
John Bowlby
A
secondary drive theory of love
2
Q
Harlow an Harlow
A
monkey study
monkeys wanted comfort not just food
secondary drive theory of love
innate behavioural attachment
3
Q
how is the attachment system activated
A
external - loud noises, strangers, being alone
internal - sickness, hunger, pain
4
Q
when the attachment system is activated what is deactivated?
A
the exploration system (cant play/explore)
5
Q
Secure attachment
A
50-60%
return of mother is solution of the problem
get back to playing
6
Q
ambivalent attachment
A
10-15% reunion doesn't calm baby anger due to being alone inconsistent care preoccupied with availability
7
Q
avoidant attachment
A
20-25%
reunion is not affective
ignores mum due to experience of rejection
rejecting caregiver
8
Q
disorganised attachment
A
when the threat is also the caregiver
child doesn’t know how to behave
9
Q
internal working models (Bowlby)
A
it is the sum of all your attachments that tailer yours
can also be seen as schemas
10
Q
Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991)
A
split the three styles into 4 along 2 dimensions:
avoidance of emotional intimacy (deactivate attachment)
anxiety about abandonment (hyperactivate attachment)
11
Q
secure attachment predicts
A
academic achievment, skill, attention spans
12
Q
airport seperation study
A
Separation is the threat (57%) - exhibited more attachment behaviours Flying together (43%) - less attachment behaviours (less likely to stay in close proximity)
- Concerns about availability/accessibility results in increased attachment behaviours.
13
Q
intrapersonal correlates and consequences
A
self esteem, mental health, coping, perceived social support, pain tolerance, emotional regulation
14
Q
interpersonal correlates and consequences
A
caregiving, parenting, empathy, prosocial behaviour
15
Q
attachment styles as schemas
A
we can have multiple attachment styles, stored in schema
can be situation specific
can be made salient by priming
can be relationship specific
16
Q
Rowe and Carnelly (2003)
A
P’s recalled words in a way congruent with the primed style
secure = more positive interpersonal expectation
text message can prime attachment
17
Q
internal working models
A
templates of beliefs about the self and others based on a history of caregiving experiences
18
Q
positive view of self, positive view of others
A
secure
19
Q
negative view of self, positive view of others
A
preoccupied (want to be completely emotionally intimate with others)
20
Q
positive view of self, negative view of others
A
dismissing (don’t depend on others)
21
Q
negative view of self, negative view of others
A
fearful (want emotional closeness but don’t trust anyone, worry about being hurt)
22
Q
high avoidance, low anxiety
A
dismissing
23
Q
high avoidance, high anxiety
A
fearful
24
Q
high anxiety, low avoidance
A
preoccupied
25
low anxiety, low avoidance
secure
26
appraisal of self worth and self confidence
measures adult attachment style and self esteem
60 studies measuring this (Mikulincer and Shaver, [in]2007)
anxious - (preoccupied/fearful) low self esteem, high anxiety
avoidant - less clear
27
Rosenberg self esteem scale
cross cultural study
negative association between attachment anxiety and self esteem in 49 countries
28
Pietromonacco and Barrett (1997)
high anxiety individuals reported negative self evaluations after interactions longer than 10 mins, relating to others and feeling bad about the self
29
defensive self enhancement
avoidant
inflating self-views and deny or suppress negative information about themselves in order to be self-reliant.
Self view is not that genuine.
especially when under threat
30
poor self clarity
avoidant
| poor understanding of who they are as a person
31
Mikulincer (1998)
defensive self enhancement under threat
electrodes on skin
told either a lie detector or electrical activity monitor
told they failed (mild threat) or not
anxious - endorsed more negative traits, showed helplessness and self defeatism (= poor memory recall)
avoidant - showed resilience, remembered more positive adjectives when under threat
bogus pipeline - lie detector = wiped defensive enhancement
32
sustaining self-related vulnerabilities
avoidance and anxiety associated with patterns of vulnerability that serve to sustain views about the self and others
33
hopeless cognitive style
Abramson et al (1989)
self defeating attribution trial
reinforces blame, hopelessness and positivity
cant do it by themselves, evoke caregiver response
34
patterns of feedback seeking
Swann (1990)
self verification hypothesis
seek feedback to validate our self knowledge
35
anxious view of others
others are difficult to understand
36
avoidant view of others
humans aren't altruistic and aren't willing to stand up for their beliefs
37
insecure view of others
tent to lack self esteem for, and acceptance of others
| - they have doubts about peoples trustworthiness
38
Brennan and Morris (1997)
asked P's to imagine their romantic partner being asked questions about them.
Negative views of self cause insecure individuals to keep on seeking confirmatory negative information (self perpetuating cycle).
39
collins and feeney (2004)
dating couples were informed that one member of the couple would perform a stressful task
supportive or ambiguously supportive note
no significant attachment style difference in appraisals of supportive notes.
- - Insecure - P's rated ambiguous notes as less supportive, more upsetting and more negative than secure P's.
- - insecure P's rated their partners behaviour as less supportive [than the researchers].
Ambiguous notes activated the attachment-related worries - heightened access to negative working models of others - negatively biased insecure P's appraisals of the note causing them to negatively reconstruct their partners supportiveness during the interaction.
40
Baldwin et al (1993)
examined access to beliefs about partners supportiveness using lexical decision task. P's read sentences with either an attachment context or a non attachment context.
-- target strings of letters depicted positive partner behaviours ("support"),
negative partner behaviours ("leave"),
neutral behaviours ("read") or
non words ("sccijnfv")
Secure P's had shorter reaction times to words naming positive behaviours within interpersonal context than to negative behaviour words.
Insecure P's has faster reaction times when responding to negative behaviour words than to positive behaviour words.
41
conclusion
Anxious people view relationship partners as a 'saviour' but they also hold negative views and biases against perceiving relationship partners good intentions as genuine.
Avoidant - positive views of self based on self-enhancement.
42
preconscious activation
Mikulincer et al (2000)
subliminal priming task
faster RT for proximity related words after threat
anxious - faster RT to all attachment words (hyper-activating strategies keep rejected related thoughts available in WM)
avoidant - faster reaction times when under cognitive load
(worries about rejection and seperation inaccessible until threat prime is under cognitive load)
43
attachment and emotional regulation
Mikulincer and Shaver
3 segmental model
- activation of attachment system (proximity seeking)
- consequences of proximity seeking (distinction between attachments)
- secondary strategies used if priming fails (distinction between avoidant and anxious)
neural circuits are reinforced
influenced by context - remind individual about secure attachment = feel more secure
44
control system approach to attachment behaviour
Mikulincer and Shaver
3 segmental model
- activation of attachment system (proximity seeking)
- consequences of proximity seeking (distinction between attachments)
- secondary strategies used if primary fails (anxiety or avoidant)
neural circuits that are used are reinforced
influenced by context - remind an individual about secure attachment = feel more secure
45
broaden and build cycle of security
repeated exposure leads to positive working models of the self and others
person develops procedural knowledge of how to deal with stress (secure based script)
- will be able to seek proximity and intimacy, engage in problem solving (less cognitive load)
46
threat is
subjective
47
threat activated attachment system
can be unconscious (reaction times in priming task)
| can come from within (thoughts, feelings, emotion)
48
what constitutes proximity seeking in adults
attachment system is activated preconsciously - easy to access attachment related thoughts
conscious thoughts of seeking proximity
- steps take longer in adulthood
- desire can be settled mentally
49
secure based script
procedural memory of how to feel better when you are sad
50
attachment security
healthy, flexible, reality attuned
| - allows emotion to be expressed without defensive distortion
51
attachment security
healthy, flexible and reality attuned
| allows emotion to be expressed without defensive distortion
52
attachment insecurities
distortion or denial of emotional response
dysfunctional rumination on threats
poor coping skills
53
individual differences in attachment styles affect
appraisal of emotional events
| how we regulate and express emoiton
54
preconscious activation
Mikulincer et al (2000)
subliminal priming task
faster RT for proximity related words after threat
anxious - faster RT to all attachment words (hyper-activating strategies keep rejected related thoughts available in WM)
avoidant - faster reaction times when under cognitive load
(worries about rejection and seperation inaccessible until threat prime is under cognitive load)
55
broaden and build cycle of security
attachment figures ready and available
individuals recover from threat well
repeated exposure leads to positive working models of self and others
develop a secure based script
- will be able to seek proximity and intimacy
- engage in problem solving (less cognitive load)
- acknowledge and communicate distress
56
bogstrom and johnson (2004)
mimicry response to facial expressions
dismissing individuals controlled to suppress emotion (lead to opposite facial expression) unless under cognitive load
57
threat-activated attachment system
can be unconscious/administered subliminally (RT in priming)
| can be from within (thoughts, feelings, emotions)
58
what constitutes proximity seeking in adults
attachment system is activated preconsciously - easy to access attachment related thoughts
conscious thoughts of seeking proximity
- desire can be mentally settled
- the two steps (seeking and getting proximity) take longer in adulthood
59
what are emotions
Functional, organised systems of evaluative thoughts and action tendencies - generated by the appraisal of internal and external events (stimuli) in relation to our own goals and concerns.
60
individual differences in attachment styles affect
appraisal of emotional events
how we regulate our expression of emotion
61
attachment insecurities
distortion or denial of emotional response, dysfunctional rumination on threats and poor coping strategies
62
attachment anxiety associated with
distress intensifying appraisal (want caregivers to see they need help)
63
meredith, strong and feeney (2005)
chronic pain patients
neural pathways for pain are different
secure = less threatening, lower threat appraisal (how much they appraised pain as a threat)
64
kirtpatric et al (1996)
womens physiological responses to stressful events with/without a romantic partner
```
secure = milder stress response in both conditions
insecure = higher stress in presence of partner
```
65
diamond et al (2006)
electrodes when doing stressful task
avoidance = greater reactivity
high avoidance = no correlation between what they said and the skin conductance recording
66
bogstrom and johnson (2004)
mimicry response to facial expressions
dismissing individuals
