Psychology 305 1

Psychology 305A: Theories of Personality

Lecture 13

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The Psychosocial Perspective

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1. How are attachment styles assessed in adults? (continued)

2. What are the major correlates of attachment styles?

1. distinguish between attachment classification systems and methods of assessment for adults.

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2. identify the correlates of secure and insecure attachment styles.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

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2. Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ; Hazan & Shaver, 1987)

Assesses secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment styles.

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How are attachment styles assessed in adults? (continued)

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Contains multi-sentence descriptions of 3 attachment styles that correspond to the 3 infant patterns

identified by Ainsworth et al. (1978).

Respondents are asked to think about their experiences in romantic love relationships and select

the description that best describes how they feel (a categorical response).

See questionnaire administered in class.

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Your “AAQ”

Description A: Avoidant attachment style

Description B:

Description C:

Secure attachment style

Ambivalent attachment style

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3. Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991)

Assesses secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing attachment styles.

Bartholomew argued that the AAQ conflates distinct forms of avoidance—fearful-avoidance and

dismissing-avoidance.

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According to Bartholomew, fearful-avoidant and dismissing-avoidant individuals differ in the positivity of

their self-views.

This is exemplified in Bartholomew’s 2-dimensional model of attachment:

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MODEL OF SELF

MODEL OF OTHER

Positive

Positive

Negative

Negative

SECURE

FEARFULPREOCCUPIED

DISMISSING

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Similar to the AAQ, the RQ contains multi-sentence descriptions of each of the 4 attachment styles.

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Descriptions included in the RQ:

“It is easy for me to become emotionally close to others. I am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being alone or having others not accept me.”

(Secure; 47% of university students)

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“I want to be completely emotionally intimate with others, but I often find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I am uncomfortable being without close relationships, but I sometimes worry that others don’t value me as much as I value them.”

(Preoccupied; 14% of university students)

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“I am uncomfortable getting close to others. I want emotionally close relationships, but I find it difficult to trust others completely. I worry that I will be hurt if I allow myself to become too close to others.”

(Fearful; 21% of university students)

“I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient. I prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on me.” (Dismissing; 18% of university students)

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What are the major correlates of attachment styles?

• Research has revealed a number of associations between attachment styles and relationship outcomes, emotion regulation, and personality.

• In contrast to individuals who have an insecure attachment style (i.e., ambivalent, preoccupied, avoidant, fearful, dismissing, disoriented), individuals

who have a secure attachment style:

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are more satisfied in their relationships (e.g., Cohen, 2006; Keelan, Dion, & Dion, 1994).

are more likely to seek support from and provide support to their partners when distressed (e.g.,

Fraley & Shaver, 1998).

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are more likely to use conflict-resolution strategies that involve compromise (e.g., Campbell et al., 2005; Pistole,1989).

are less likely to infer hostile and rejecting intentions in ambiguous behaviour displayed by a partner (e.g., Collins, 1996).

have relatively high levels of self-esteem (e.g., Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991).

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are less likely to experience depression (avoidant individuals report the highest levels of depression; e.g., Hankin et al., 2005).

are less likely to suffer from eating disorders (e.g., Brennan & Shaver, 1995) and anxiety disorders

(e.g., Warren et al., 1997)

are less likely to drink alcohol when coping with stress (e.g., Brennan & Shaver, 1995).

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are less likely to engage in spousal abuse (the highest incidence of spousal assault has been found among preoccupied and fearful men; Dutton et al., 1994).

are less likely to engage in child abuse (e.g., Moncher, 1996)

experience greater satisfaction with work (e.g., Vasquez, Durik, & Hyde, 2002)

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are relatively: low in neuroticism, high in agreeableness, and high in extraversion

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Preoccupied individuals are highest in neuroticism.

Avoidant individuals are lowest in agreeableness and extraversion (e.g., Shaver & Brennan, 1992).

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The Psychosocial Perspective

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1. How are attachment styles assessed in adults? (continued)

2. What are the major correlates of attachment styles?