The Attachment Theory

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Attachment theory emphasizes the importance of intimate, interpersonal relationships. Through these experiences that begin very early in life, emotional bonds with close others are formed, creating a generalized mental framework for future relationships (i.e., an internal working model; Bowlby, 1979). These internal working models are associated with the security (or insecurity) of attachment and may be positive or negative, based on the other person’s willingness and ability to respond to one’s needs of security, comfort, and care (Hazan & Shaver, 1994). Importantly, empirical evidence has demonstrated that a more secure style of attachment is associated with superior interpersonal functioning, communication, and responsivity (e.g., Kestenbaum, …show more content…
That is, those with more secure attachments tend to communicate more effectively in relationships and think before acting, but when conflict inevitably occurs, they are also equipped to resolve it productively. Consequently, the security of one’s attachment style may be related to one’s behaviors, perceptions, and judgments of morally relevant situations, especially situations involving close others. Being able to make sense of moral experiences involving harm is essential to identity development and may vary by attachment style. A critical way in which humans come to understand their identity is through the construction of narratives (Pasupathi & Wainryb, 2010). A narrative identity is defined as the self’s subjective understanding of an experience. The formation of narrative identity is linked with the ability to integrate, reason, and synthesize to derive meaning from an experience, which is a capability that emerges throughout adolescence and early adulthood (Fivush, 2011; Habermas & Bluck, 2000). The construction of narratives of transgression, both about harming others and being harmed, provides a link between attachment style and morality to understand the self in a complex, social world, underscoring the importance of interpersonal relationships. Thus, the major objective of the present study is …show more content…
Bowlby maintained that attachment behavior would be relatively stable and would characterize individuals’ attachment to important others in their lives “from cradle to grave”. Primary support for this argument comes from Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) findings that the three styles of infant attachment were observed in adulthood and the same proportions of adults exhibited each of these styles as in infancy, with secure attachment accounting for more than 50% of subjects. Additional support comes from Allen and colleagues’ (2004) 2-year, longitudinal study, which examined continuity and discontinuity in attachment security in a population of mid- to late-adolescents at ages 16 and 18. The results demonstrated that there was, in fact, significant stability in overall levels of attachment security over the two years. In culmination, these findings indicate that there is general stability in attachment security over time, and if individual differences over time arise, they may be accounted for by psychosocial, relational, or intrapsychic factors. Stability of attachment relations across childhood and adulthood suggest that individuals have characteristic ways of understanding the self, others, and the world based on early attachment
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