What is adult attachment theory?
Adult attachment theory proposes that the processes by which infants form attachments to caregivers also operate in adult romantic and marital relationships. Building on Bowlby’s attachment theory, Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver launched the research area in 1987 by conceptualizing romantic love as an attachment process.
- Meaning
- Explains romantic and marital bonds in terms of attachment
- Origin
- Hazan & Shaver (1987)
- Classic styles
- Secure, anxious, avoidant
- Current view
- Two continuous dimensions, anxiety and avoidance
Hazan and Shaver’s study
Hazan and Shaver gathered responses through a "love quiz" printed in a newspaper. Respondents read descriptions that translated the three infant attachment patterns from the Strange Situation into adult romantic terms and chose the one most like themselves.
| Style | In romantic relationships |
|---|---|
| Secure | Comfortable getting close; at ease depending on others and being depended on |
| Anxious (anxious-ambivalent) | Worries that partners do not want to be as close as they would like |
| Avoidant | Uncomfortable with closeness; reluctant to depend on others |
Why do some people repeat the same pattern in every relationship? In Hazan and Shaver’s study, the proportions of the three styles resembled those found in infant research, and people who chose different styles reported different experiences of love, beliefs about relationships and memories of their parents. The results suggested that relationship expectations formed in childhood can carry into adult love.
The four-category model and two dimensions
Kim Bartholomew and Leonard Horowitz (1991) combined views of self and others into a four-category model: secure, preoccupied, dismissing-avoidant and fearful-avoidant. Today, researchers often describe people not by a single category but by scores on two dimensions: attachment anxiety (worry about rejection) and attachment avoidance (discomfort with closeness).
Can attachment styles change?
Attachment styles are fairly stable but not fixed. Trustworthy relationships and therapy can shift people toward greater security. Emotionally focused therapy applies attachment ideas to couples, and social penetration theory describes how relationships deepen.
Frequently asked questions
- What is adult attachment theory?
- The idea that attachment processes seen between infants and caregivers also operate in adult romantic relationships.
- What are the attachment styles?
- Hazan and Shaver described secure, anxious and avoidant styles; Bartholomew proposed secure, preoccupied, dismissing-avoidant and fearful-avoidant.
- Can an attachment style change?
- It is relatively stable, but new relationship experiences and therapy can change it.
References
- Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 511–524.
- Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 226–244.