Week 4: Adult Attatchment Flashcards
(21 cards)
What are the 4 main functions of attatchment in adulthood?
Secure base
Safe heaven
Proximity maintenence
Seperation anxiety
What is our internal working model of adult relationships?
Mental reporesentations of the self and others
Am i worthy of love/Is my care giver avaliable and reliable?
They guide our expectations and behaviours
What kind of attatchment style is it when we’re high in anxiety and low in avoidance?
Preoccupied
What kind of attatchment style is it when we’re high in anxiety and high in avoidance?
Fearful avoidant
What kind of attatchment style is it when we’re low in anxiety and low in avoidance?
Secure
What kind of attatchment style is it when we’re low in anxiety and high in avoidance?
Dismissing avoidant
What kind of attatchment style is associated with higher agreeableness?
Low avoidence
What kind of personality traits are associated with being securely attatched?
Extraversion and conscientiousness
What kind of personality trait is associated with having a dismissing avoidant attatchment style?
Higher openness
What behaviours are associated with high avoidance?
Being rejecting and negectful of their partner
Supressing emotions
Defensive with intimacy
What behaviours are associated with high anxiety?
Inconsistancy and overprotectiveness
Clingy with a fear of abandonment
Difficulty regulating emotions
Is high anxiety or high avoidence related to genetics?
High anxiety has a 40% heritability
What is Shaver and Mikuincer’s model of attatchment functioning in adulthood?
The system is activated when we see signs of threat and then seek proxomity to our attatchment figure. It’s best described in a flow chart
How does reaction time when primed with threat vary depending on attatchment style?
When primed with a threat, anxious participants were faster at recognising figure names in general
Avoidant participants had slower reaction times
What mental health issues are associated with avoidance attatchment?
Restrictive eating disorders
Depression - overrelying on yourself
What mental health issues are associated with anxious attatchment?
Anxiety disorders
Eating disorders (Binging)
Depression - overrelying on others
Boarderline personality disorder
What are the behaviours of avoidant attatchment in romantic relationships?
Less likely to get involved in relationships
Less likely to open up and express themselves
Will not seek support and provides it less in others
Less satisfied, committed and trusting
What are the behaviours of anxious attatchment in romantic relationships?
Commit quickly to new relationships
Compulsive caregiving
Interpret partner’s behaviour negatively
Jealousy
How does attatchment theory explain insecure attatchments as being adaptive?
They develop to maximise protection and survival in infancy
How does social defense theory explain insecure attatchments as being adaptive?
Anxiety means you’re faster at detecting a threat ad avoidence means you’re faster to act
How does attatchment change as we age?
Anxiety decreases and avoidence lowers in long term relationships
