This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process--a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the development of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy--secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent--and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. Implications for theories of romantic love are discussed, as are measurement problems and other issues related to future tests of the attachment perspective.

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Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process

A new 4-group model of attachment styles in adulthood is proposed. Four prototypic attachment patterns are defined using combinations of a person's self-image (positive or negative) and image of others (positive or negative). In Study 1, an interview was developed to yield continuous and categorical ratings of the 4 attachment styles. Intercorrelations of the attachment ratings were consistent with the proposed model. Attachment ratings were validated by self-report measures of self-concept and interpersonal functioning. Each style was associated with a distinct profile of interpersonal problems, according to both self- and friend-reports. In Study 2, attachment styles within the family of origin and with peers were assessed independently. Results of Study 1 were replicated. The proposed model was shown to be applicable to representations of family relations; Ss' attachment styles with peers were correlated with family attachment ratings.

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/61/2/226.pdf

Attachment styles among young adults: a test of a four-category model

What good is self-control? We incorporated a new measure of individual differences in self-control into two large investigations of a broad spectrum of behaviors. The new scale showed good internal consistency and retest reliability. Higher scores on self-control correlated with a higher grade point average, better adjustment (fewer reports of psychopathology, higher self-esteem), less binge eating and alcohol abuse, better relationships and interpersonal skills, secure attachment, and more optimal emotional responses. Tests for curvilinearity failed to indicate any drawbacks of so-called overcontrol, and the positive effects remained after controlling for social desirability. Low self-control is thus a significant risk factor for a broad range of personal and interpersonal problems.

/pdf/high-self-control-predicts-good-adjustment-less-pathology-19qckrshli.pdf

High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success.

* Caring for children * The origins of attachment theory * Psychoanalysis as art and science * Psychoanalysis as a natural science * Violence in the family * On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel * The role of attachment in personality development * Attachment, communication, and the therapeutic process * Developmental psychiatry comes of age

A Secure Base. Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. New York (Basic Books) 1988.

In this chapter, we undertake to present the ecological model of human development that has been introduced in a prior edition of this Handbook. The bioecological model is an evolving theoretical system for the scientific study of human development over time. The model presented in this chapter represents major theoretical innovations from the 1983 chapter in both form and content. The new model is not a paradigm shift, but rather represents a transition from a focus on the environment to a focus on proximal processes as engines of development. We begin with the defining properties of the model, which involves four principal components (process, person, context, and time), and the dynamic, interactive relationships among them. We then turn to the research designs required for testing the model. In doing so, we not only present the next stage in the evolution of an ecological theory of human development, but we also document the requirements for conducting developmental research in the discovery mode. We conclude with a look to the future—and what the bioecological model means for the future development of our species.


Keywords:

bioecological;
context;
macrosystem;
microsystem;
person;
proximal processes;
time

The Bioecological Model of Human Development

Part I: Introduction 1. Theoretical Background Part II: Method 2. Procedures 3. Measures and Methods of Assessment Part III: Results 4. Descriptive Account of Behavior in Each Episode 5. Normative Trends across Episodes 6. An Examination of the Classificatory System: A Multiple Discriminate Function Analysis 7. Relationships between Infant Behavior in the Strange Situation and at Home 8. Relationships between Infant Behavior in the Strange Situation and Maternal Behavior at Home 9. A Review of Strange-Situation Studies of One-Year-Olds 10. A Review of Strange-Situation Studies of Two- to Four-Year-Olds 11. The Effects of Repetition of the Strange Situation 12. Subgroups and Their Usefulness Part IV: Discussion 13. Discussion of Normative Issues 14. Individual Differences: In Light of Contrasting Paradigms 15. An Interpretation of Individual Differences Appendix I: Instructions to Mother Appendix II: Instructions for Coding and Tabulating Frequency of Behaviors Appendix III: Scoring System for Interactive Behaviors Appendix IV: Maternal Caregiving and Interaction Scales Appendix V: Secure Base Behavior At Home Appendix VI: Supplementary Statistical Findings

Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation

BLEHAR, MARY C.; LIEBERMAN, ALICIA F.; and AINSWORTH, MARY D. SALTER. Early Face-to-Face Interaction and Its Relation to Later Infant-Mother Attachment. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 182194. Face-to-face interaction between 26 infants and (a) their mothers and (b) a relatively unfamiliar figure was observed longitudinally between 6 and 15 weeks of age in the home environment. Highlights of normative findings are that infants became more responsive over this time period, whereas maternal behavior did not change. In the sample as a whole, infants were more responsive to the mother than to the unfamiliar figure on only 1 measure, bouncing. Individual differences in maternal behavior were stable throughout, but individual differences in infant behavior were not. Individual differences in interaction were analyzed and summarized by means of a factor analysis. Factor I opposed positive infant responsiveness to minimal response and maternal playfulness to impassiveness. Factor II contrasted maternal contingent pacing, infant delight, and prolonged interaction with routine maternal manner, abruptness, negative infant response, and brief interaction. Individual differences in interaction were found to be related to later differences in infant-mother attachment, as assessed by a strange-situation procedure at 51 weeks of age. Infants later identified as securely attached were more responsive in early en face encounters than infants judged to be anxiously attached, and their mothers were more contingently responsive and encouraging of interaction. Infants later identified as anxiously attached were more unresponsive and negative in early en face interaction than securely attached infants, and their mothers were more likely to be impassive or abrupt. Securely attached infants were more positively responsive to the mother than to an unfamiliar figure in early face-to-face episodes, while anxiously attached infants were not.

Early Face-to-Face Interaction and Its Relation to Later Infant-Mother Attachment.

BLEHAR, MARY CURTIS. Anxious Attachment and Defensive Reactions Associated with Day Care. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 683-692. 20 2and 3-year-old children attending full. time group day care were compared with 20 home-reared children of the same ages in a standardized strange situation. Analysis focused on responses to separation from and reunion with the mother. Findings indicate qualitative disturbances in the mother-child relationship in day-care children, and this was attributed to the disruptive effects of frequent daily separations. The child's age at the time that day care began influenced the kind of disturbance shown. Those who started day care at age 2 showed avoidant behavior upon reunion with the mother, whereas those who started day care at age 3 showed anxious, ambivalent behavior.

Anxious attachment and defensive reactions associated with day care.

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Mary C. Blehar

Papers

Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation

Early Face-to-Face Interaction and Its Relation to Later Infant-Mother Attachment.

Anxious attachment and defensive reactions associated with day care.

Developmental Change in the Behavior of Infants and Their Mothers Relevant to Close Bodily Contact.

Normative Trends Across Episodes