Attachment security priming: a systematic review

Attachment and negative affect on mental health and pain experience patients with Multiple Sclerosis: Mediated by coping strategies and loneliness

BACKGROUND

Multiple sclerosis and its related stressors significantly affect the mental health of people with MS. Considering the progressive and relapsing-remitting nature of the disease and somatic complaint, the Pain experience for MS patients is challenging. We examined the direct effects of Attachment and the negative affect on mental health and pain experience and the indirect effects of Attachment, negative affect, loneliness, and coping strategies on the mental health and pain experience of people with multiple sclerosis.

METHODS

Three hundred forty-five patients with MS were selected through the Iranian MS Association. Measures included the negative affect (PANAS), Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28), short-form McGill pain questionnaire (SF-mpq-2), Social and emotional loneliness scale for adults (SELSA-S), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations(CISS-21). The present study has employed the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to investigate the direct and indirect effects of coping strategies, attachment, loneliness, and negative affect on mental health and pain experienced by individuals with MS. The fit of the model to the data was examined using the Discrepancy Function Divided by Degrees of Freedom (CMIN/DF), Normed Fit Index (NFI), TuckerLewis Index (TLI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA).

RESULTS

The fit indices results showed that the model's fit was good. Furthermore, findings indicate that 13 % (R2=13) of the pain experience Changes and 47 % (R2=47) of the mental health Changes are explained via study predictors. Negative affect directly affects mental health and pain experience, and Attachment directly affects mental health. Negative affect indirectly affects coping strategies. Attachment and Negative affect indirectly affect loneliness. Loneliness and coping strategies indirectly affect mental health and pain experience.

CONCLUSION

Study findings contribute to our understanding of the crucial structures that play a role in the mental health and pain experience of individuals with MS. Loneliness and coping strategies as mediating variables play essential roles in these people's mental health and pain experience. In the times ahead, it would be beneficial to prioritize addressing negative affect, attachment, coping strategies, and loneliness in the patients with MS' medical and psychological intervention.

The Role of Parent-Child Attachment, Hostile Attribution Bias in Aggression: A Meta-Analytic Review

Parent-Child Attachment (PCA) and Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB) are closely related to aggression, but findings regarding their relationships are inconsistent. There is a lack of understanding of the underlying mechanism between PCA and aggression. This review employed meta-analysis approaches to investigate the associations between PCA and aggression, as well as between HAB and aggression, and the mechanism for the PCA-aggression association. An article search was conducted in CNKI, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Totally, 118 studies involving general populations and those at high risk for aggression were included. Results revealed negative associations between Parent-Child Attachment Security (PCAS) and aggression (ρ = -.267, p < .001) and positive associations between Parent-Child Attachment Insecurity (PCAI) and aggression (ρ = .240, p < .05). HAB and aggression were found to be positively associated (ρ = .303, p < .001). As for the PCAS-aggression association, a larger effect size was found in females than in males. The HAB-reactive aggression association was stronger than the HAB-proactive aggression association. In Eastern culture, the association between HAB and aggression was stronger than in Western culture. HAB mediated the association between PCAS and aggression. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the occurrence and development of aggression by establishing an association between attachment theory and the social information processing model. The practical implications include interventions targeting cultivating PCAS and alleviating HAB, which might serve as effective ways to reduce aggression, yet aggression type, gender, and cultural background should be taken into consideration.

A feasibility and pilot additive randomised control trial of attachment security priming during behavioural activation

BACKGROUND

There is some initial evidence that attachment security priming may be useful for promoting engagement in therapy and improving clinical outcomes.

AIMS

This study sought to assess whether outcomes for behavioural activation delivered in routine care could be enhanced via the addition of attachment security priming.

METHOD

This was a pragmatic two-arm feasibility and pilot additive randomised control trial. Participants were recruited with depression deemed suitable for a behavioural activation intervention at Step 2 of a Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression service. Ten psychological wellbeing practitioners were trained in implementing attachment security priming. Study participants were randomised to either behavioural activation (BA) or BA plus an attachment prime. The diagrammatic prime was integrated into the depression workbook. Feasibility outcomes were training satisfaction, recruitment, willingness to participate and study attrition rates. Pilot outcomes were comparisons of clinical outcomes, attendance, drop-out and stepping-up rates.

RESULTS

All practitioners recruited to the study, and training satisfaction was high. Of the 39 patients that were assessed for eligibility, 24 were randomised (61.53%) and there were no study drop-outs. No significant differences were found between the arms with regards to drop-out, attendance, stepping-up or clinical outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Further controlled research regarding the utility of attachment security priming is warranted in larger studies that utilise manipulation checks and monitor intervention adherence.

Does disorganised attachment lead to auditory hallucinations via dissociation? An experimental study with an analogue sample

OBJECTIVES

Auditory hallucinations (such as hearing voices) are common in clinical and non-clinical populations. Many people who hear voices also report early adversity and have an insecure attachment style. Current cognitive models suggest that dissociation mediates an association between disorganised attachment and auditory hallucinations, but this has not been tested experimentally.

DESIGN

We recruited a non-clinical analogue sample highly predisposed to auditory hallucinations and utilised an experimental design to examine the impact of disorganised attachment imagery on hallucinatory experiences, and whether dissociation mediates an expected association.

METHODS

Participants completed self-report measures of state auditory hallucinations and dissociation before and after random allocation to secure or disorganised attachment conditions.

RESULTS

Attachment imagery did not affect auditory hallucinations. Both secure and disorganised attachment conditions increased state dissociation. Secure attachment imagery reduced paranoia, but state dissociation did not mediate this effect. An exploratory analysis found that trait dissociation fully accounted for the association between trait-disorganised attachment and hallucinatory experience while controlling for paranoia.

CONCLUSIONS

Secure attachment imagery reduces paranoia but not auditory hallucinations and the impact on paranoia is not mediated by dissociation. Secure attachment imagery may be useful in reducing fears and distress associated with voices, rather than the frequency or severity of hallucinations. Disorganised attachment may increase hallucinatory experiences for people vulnerable to dissociation. Trait dissociation should be assessed in clinical settings and addressed where indicated as a means of targeting vulnerability to distressing voices.

Breaking the Link Between Negative Emotion and Unhealthy Eating: the Role of Emotion Regulation

Stressful experiences frequently lead to increased consumption of unhealthy foods, high in sugar and fat yet low in nutrients. Can emotion regulation help break this link? In a laboratory experiment (N = 200), participants were encouraged to ruminate on a current, distressing personal problem, followed by instruction to use a specific emotion regulation strategy for managing feelings around that problem (challenge appraisal, relaxation/distraction, imagined social support, no-instruction control). Participants then spent 15 min on an anagram task in which 80% of items were unsolvable-a frustrating situation offering a second, implicit opportunity to use the regulation strategy. During the anagram task they had free access to a snack basket containing various options. Analyses revealed significant differences among regulation conditions in consumption of candy versus healthy snack options; challenge appraisal led to the healthiest snack choices, imagined social support to the least healthy snack choices.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00190-5.

Attachment insecurity, heart rate variability, and perceived social support in a diverse sample of young adults

Psychological and physical factors are robustly associated with perceived social support. Drawing from the literature on attachment style in adults and psychophysiology, we examined the possibility that the interaction of attachment insecurity and resting heart rate variability (HRV) was associated with perceived social support in a diverse sample of young adults living in the U.S (N = 145, Mage = 20.45) that was majority Latino (n = 77). Analyses revealed three key findings. First, in the overall sample, attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were negatively associated with perceived social support, but in the Latino sample, only attachment avoidance was negatively associated with perceived social support. Second, HRV was not associated with perceived social support in the overall sample nor in the Latino sample. Third, attachment insecurity and HRV interacted to predict perceived social support only in the Latino sample such that, for those with lower levels of HRV, attachment anxiety was positively associated with perceived social support. This study underscores the importance of examining both psychological and physiological processes with careful consideration of ethnicity/culture in order to better understand perceived social support.

The Effects of Repeated Attachment Security Priming on Social Anxiety and Attention Bias: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Although the clinical utility of attachment security priming has been suggested in recent years, the effect of attachment security priming on social anxiety and its core symptoms (i.e., attention bias) remains unspecified. Therefore, the present study explored the potential effectiveness of repeated attachment security priming in alleviating social anxiety and attention bias among Chinese college students.

METHODS

Fifty-six college students with high social anxiety were randomly assigned to the attachment security priming group (n = 30) or control group (n = 26). The priming group completed seven attachment security priming sessions over 2 weeks (every 2 days), and the control group was assigned to a waitlist for 2 weeks.

RESULTS

The results revealed that individuals in the priming group reported less social anxiety after 2 weeks of security attachment priming, and those in the control group did not change significantly. The results also showed that there was no significant change in the attention bias of individuals with social anxiety before and after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that attachment security priming is a promising alternative intervention option for social anxiety. The potential clinical implications of security attachment priming are discussed.

Attachment patterns and autobiographical episodic memory functioning: A systemic review of adult studies to advance clinical psychological science

Patterns of insecure attachment are associated with psychopathology but the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. Cognitive science proposes that attachment patterns are influenced by the autobiographical memory system and in turn influence its ongoing functioning. Disturbances in autobiographical memory represent cognitive risks for later emotional difficulties. We systemically reviewed 33 studies (in 28 articles) examining the association between attachment patterns and autobiographical episodic memory (AEM) in individuals from the age of 16 (i.e., from young to older adulthood). Attachment patterns were associated with key areas of AEM phenomenology, including intensity and arousal; detail, specificity, and vividness; coherence and fragmentation; and accuracy and latency. These associations appeared to be moderated by contextual and individual factors; mediated by emotional regulation and schema-based processing; linked to mental health outcomes. Attachment patterns may also influence the impact of certain AEM-based manipulations. We conclude by providing a critical discussion and a research agenda for bringing together attachment, memory, and emotion, with a view to promote mechanism-driven treatment innovation in clinical psychology.

A Secure Base for Entrepreneurship: Attachment Orientations and Entrepreneurial Tendencies

Entrepreneurship catalyzes economic growth; it generates jobs, advances the economy and solves global challenges. Hence, it is crucial to understand the factors contributing to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs' development. While many studies have investigated intrapersonal factors for entrepreneurial tendencies, the present study focuses on a critical yet often overlooked interpersonal aspect: attachment orientations. Specifically, this article examines the relationship between adult attachment orientations and entrepreneurial tendencies. Three studies across three countries (Israel, the UK, and Singapore) indicated that an anxious attachment orientation in close relationships is negatively associated with enterprising tendencies. In Israel (Study 1) and Singapore (Study 2), avoidant attachment in close relationships was also negatively correlated to such tendencies. Overall, the more people feel secure in close relationships (lower scores on attachment anxiety or avoidance), the higher their enterprising tendencies. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Adult Attachment and Personal Recovery in Clients With a Psychotic Disorder

Background

Personal recovery has become a key objective in the treatment of clients with a psychotic disorder. So far it has been established that the two attachment dimensions, ie, anxious and avoidant, are negatively associated with subjective well-being, self-esteem and hope. This study is the first to explore whether attachment styles are related to personal recovery in this population.

Aims

To study the effects of anxious and avoidant attachment on personal recovery in a population with a psychotic disorder.

Method

This cross-sectional study is part of the UP's multicenter cohort study on recovery from psychotic disorders, in which 265 participants are currently included. Attachment was assessed using the Psychosis Attachment Measure, including the anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions. Personal recovery was measured using the Recovering Quality of Life-10 (ReQOL-10) and the Individual Recovery Outcomes Counter (I.ROC). Regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of attachment on personal recovery.

Results

We found negative effects of the anxious attachment style on the total scores of the ReQoL-10 (b = -4.54, SE = 0.69, β = β0.37) and the I.ROC (b = -5.21, SE = 0.89, β = -0.32). Although there were also negative effects of the avoidant attachment style on the total scores of the ReQoL-10 (b = -3.08, SE = 0.93, β = -0.18) and the I.ROC (b = -4.24, SE = 1.24, β = -0.19), these were less pronounced.

Conclusion

Results show that both forms of insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) are related to poorer personal recovery in clients with a psychotic disorder.

The dark side of nostalgia: Yearning for the past fosters bribe-taking

Past work has demonstrated the psychological benefits of nostalgia; however, little is known about its 'dark side'. Considering both the sociality of nostalgia and the relational nature of bribery, we proposed that nostalgia would bolster social connectedness, which, in turn, would promote bribe-taking. We conducted four experiments (N = 887 online and laboratory participants) to test this assumption. Experimentally induced nostalgia boosted the willingness to take a bribe across different scenarios (Experiments 1 and 2) and facilitated bribe-taking behaviour (Experiment 3); the increased social connectedness accounted for these effects (Experiments 2 and 3). Furthermore, the positive effect of social connectedness on bribe-taking was salient, especially when bribe-taking was framed as a way of establishing social relationships (Experiment 4). The findings not only broaden our understanding of nostalgia and bribe-taking but also provide practical implications for anti-bribery initiatives.

Priming attachment and diversity ideologies: Effects on ethnic bias in children's altruistic sharing in a dictator game

Children often show a positive ingroup bias in altruistic behaviors such as sharing. Insight in factors related to ethnic bias in sharing can help towards understanding the origins of inequality in the distribution of resources in society. The present study examined the effect of priming secure attachment (versus positive affect) and multiculturalism (versus color-evasiveness) on ingroup bias in dominant ethnic group children's altruistic sharing. One hundred twenty-five White Dutch children (45 % boys, 55 % girls) between 7 and 11 years old (M_age = 8.47, SD_age = 0.87) participated in a Dictator game after being primed. The Dictator game was played against three same-gender children with different ethnic backgrounds (White, Black, Middle Eastern). Results support the idea that priming secure attachment and multiculturalism can decrease ingroup bias in dominant ethnic group children's altruistic sharing, although the effects do not strengthen each other and are effective in situations with different trade-offs and interaction partners. Future research is needed to disentangle the effectiveness of secure attachment and multiculturalism messages in different sharing situations and with interaction partners with different ethnic backgrounds. Results from the present study provide starting points from which to further examine which messages potentially positively impact children's interethnic relations.

The association between attachment orientations and empathy: The mediation effect of self-concept clarity

Although earlier research had demonstrated significant links between attachment and self-concept clarity; attachment and empathy; and self-concept clarity and empathy respectively, there had been no studies examining these associations in conjunction with one another. Therefore, the present studies explored whether individual differences in self-concept clarity would mediate the relationship between attachment orientation (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and empathy (i.e., empathic concern and personal distress). In Study 1, the association between attachment orientation and self-concept clarity was examined among 602 Hungarian university students. In Study 2, the relationship between attachment and empathy was investigated through self-concept clarity among 1000 Hungarian adults. The findings from both samples revealed that attachment avoidance and anxiety were negatively related to self-concept clarity. In Study 2, individuals with greater self-concept clarity showed greater empathic concern and lower personal distress. Attachment avoidance was associated with lower empathic concern, whereas there was no significant association with personal distress. Attachment anxiety was positively related to empathic concern and personal distress. Self-concept clarity partially mediated associations with attachment anxiety and aspects of empathy. These findings suggest the importance of attachment orientations in terms of their influence on the self with regard to interpersonal relations.

Attachment Security Priming: A Meta-Analysis

Attachment security priming has important theoretical and practical implications. We review security priming theory and research and the recent concerns raised regarding priming. We then report the results of a meta-analysis of 120 studies (N = 18,949) across 97 published and unpublished articles (initial pool was 1,642 articles) investigating the affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects of security priming. A large overall positive effect size (d = .51, p < .001) was found across all affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains. The largest effect was found for affect-related outcomes (d =.62, p < .001), followed by behavioral (d = .44, p < .001), and cognitive (d = .45, p < .001). Trait attachment anxiety and avoidance moderated the effects of subliminal security priming for behavioral outcomes-security priming effects were larger among people higher on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Assessment of publication bias revealed mixed evidence for the possible presence of asymmetry.

Attachment Security Priming Affecting Mating Strategies Endorsement among College Students

Exposure to environmental cues reflecting potential threats to future survivability is associated with a stronger endorsement of short-term mating strategies. Less is known, however, about the effects of safety and security cues. In four studies, we examined the effects of attachment-related security cues compared to neutral cues on preferences for short- and long-term mating strategies. Preferences were assessed using self-report and behavioral measures. In line with Life History Theory (LHT) and our hypotheses, exposure to attachment-related security cues was mainly associated with a stronger preference for long-term mating strategies and a weaker preference for short-term strategies. Our internal meta-analysis of the experimental security manipulations across studies provided further support for the association between state attachment security and endorsement of mating strategies. We also found some predictable effects of gender and relationship status. Implications for LHT and attachment theory are discussed. (139 words).

Attachment Security Priming Delayed Negative Information-Related Attentional Disengagement Among Anxiously Attached Individuals: Evidence From Behavioral and Functional MRI Experiments

Although attachment security has been found to attenuate people’s experience of unpleasant information, how it modulates the attentional process toward such information remains unknown. The present study examined this issue by employing the dot-probe task in functional MRI. After completing the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire (ECR-R), 39 participants were asked to complete the dot-probe task in two conditions: the attachment security priming condition and neutral priming condition. The behavioral results revealed that individuals with high level of attachment anxiety exhibited larger attention disengagement from negative traits in the security priming condition than in the control condition. Correspondingly, the brain regions involved in attention regulation and shifting, such as the posterior cingulate and bilateral parietal area, were less activated among high anxiously attached individuals in the security priming condition. These results suggest a role of attachment security priming in regulating the emotional response in anxiously attached individuals during the attentional stage.

Does Connectedness Need Satisfaction Diminish or Promote Social Goal Striving?

People pursue social goals primarily to satisfy their innate need for affiliation; however, there is no consensus regarding how the successful fulfillment of affiliation need—social connectedness—influences striving for social goals. To address this issue, we proposed a dual-pathway model postulating both a negative effect of social connectedness on social goal striving via decreased emotional distress and a positive effect via increased social self-efficacy. Six studies (total N = 1,849), using cross-sectional, experimental, and daily diary methods, provided support for this model at both the between- and within-person levels. Furthermore, by distinguishing between approach and avoidance social goal strivings, and between deficit-reduction and growth connectedness need orientations, we found that the relative strength with which each path operates differed. The dual-pathway model generates theoretical and practical implications for need satisfaction and goal striving.

Beyond words: Conceptual framework for the study and practice of hypnotherapeutic imagery

This paper provides a conceptual framework for the study and clinical application of hypnotherapeutic imagery (HTI). Using the grounded theory method of conceptual analysis, a unified theoretical framework is constructed from a multidisciplinary review of literature (i.e., this new theory is based on the collection and analysis of independently sourced data). The aim is to enumerate the chorographical features of HTI simulations within the mental landscape, rather than seeking to predict them. This is achieved using a combination of ontological, epistemological, and methodological inquires. Because mental simulation is both symptomatic of mental disorders and a psychotherapeutic agent, used across various treatment modalities, an attempt is made to isolate those variables that differentiate HTI from other instances of mental simulation. Lastly, applied principles from multiple disciplines are used to formulate HTI methodology designed to effectively enhance intuitive understanding and unconscious problem-solving.

The Role of Implicit Memory in the Development and Recovery from Trauma-Related Disorders

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is a chronic condition that occurs following a traumatic experience. Information processing models of PTSD focus on integrating situationally triggered sensory-emotional memories with consciously accessible autobiographical memories. Review of the nature of implicit memory supports the view that sensory-emotional memories are implicit in nature. Dissociation was also found to be associated with the development and severity of PTSD, as well as deficits in autobiographical memory. Moreover, disorganized attachment (DA) was associated with greater degrees of dissociation and PTSD, and like the defining neural activation in PTSD, was found to be associated with basal ganglia activity. In addition, subcortical neuroception of safety promotes a neurophysiological substrate supportive of social engagement and inhibition of fear-based responses. Furthermore, activation of representations of co-created imagined scenes of safety and secure attachment are associated with increases in this neurophysiological substrate. Repeated priming of secure attachment imagery was associated with modification of internal working models of DA along with reductions in dissociation and recovery from complex PTSD. In conclusion, it is posited that adequate recovery from extensive trauma experiences requires more than conscious elaboration of traumatic autobiographical memories and that the application of implicit nonconscious memory modification strategies will facilitate more optimal recovery.

Safe and Sound: The Effects of Experimentally Priming the Sense of Attachment Security on Pure-Tone Audiometric Thresholds Among Young and Older Adults

Attachment security has consistently been found to correlate with relaxed exploration, openness, and mindful attention to incoming information. The present studies explored whether contextually infusing a sense of attachment security (security priming) can improve hearing in young and older adults. In Study 1, participants (29 young, 30 older) performed a standardized pure-tone audiometric-thresholds test twice. In the security-priming condition, a picture of a participant's security-enhancing figure was presented throughout the task. In the control condition, a picture of an unknown person (matched in sex, age, and facial expression) was used as a neutral prime. Study 2 (14 young, 14 older) was almost identical, except that it was preregistered and the neutral prime was a circle. In both studies, participants performed better (had lower hearing thresholds) in the security-priming condition. The current study is the first to show that attachment security improves sensory perception, and these results have meaningful implications for theory and clinical hearing tests.

How does insecure attachment lead to paranoia? A systematic critical review of cognitive, affective, and behavioural mechanisms

Background

The relationship between attachment and paranoia is now well established. There is good theoretical reason and evidence to indicate that attachment style affects cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes which, in turn, contribute to the maintenance of paranoia, but this research has not been integrated. We critically and systematically review research that examines relevant cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes, which may explain how attachment insecurity leads to paranoia and constitute key targets in psychotherapeutic interventions for people with psychosis.

Method

We conducted three systematic searches across six databases (PsycINFO, CINAHL, Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and Google Scholar), from inception to September 2021, to investigate key cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes in the attachment–paranoia association.

Results

We identified a total of 1930 papers and critically reviewed 16. The literature suggests that negative self‐ and other‐beliefs, inability to defuse from unhelpful cognitions, and use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies mediate the association between attachment insecurity and paranoia in people with psychosis/psychotic experience. Attachment‐secure people with psychosis are more likely to seek help and engage with services than attachment‐insecure people.

Conclusions

Attachment styles impact help‐seeking behaviours in people with psychosis and are likely to influence paranoia via self‐ and other‐beliefs, cognition fusion, and emotion regulation – these candidate mechanisms may be targeted in psychological therapy to improve clinical outcomes for people with psychosis, characterized by paranoia.

Practitioner points

Insecure attachment is likely to lead to paranoia via negative beliefs about self and others, cognitive fusion, and use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. These mechanisms can be targeted in psychotherapeutic interventions for psychosis, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, to improve clinical and recovery outcomes.

People with psychosis who are attachment‐secure are more likely to seek help and engage with services than those who are attachment‐insecure (particularly avoidant). Attachment style can be assessed to predict service engagement and help‐seeking behaviours in people with psychosis.

Attachment styles are important predictors of key cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes in people with psychosis. These processes can be assessed and incorporated into individualised formulations, and then targeted in therapy to effect psychotherapeutic change.

The Study of Security Priming on Avoidant Attentional Biases: Combining Microsaccadic Eye-Movement Measurement With a Dot-Probe Task

Microsaccades are small fixational eye movements that have shown to index covert attentional shifts. The present experiment combined microsaccades with performance measures from a dot-probe task to study influences of attachment security priming on the attentional biases of individuals high in attachment avoidance. Security priming is an experimental manipulation aimed at boosting felt security. Using a randomized, mixed design, we measured differences in attentional vigilance toward angry and neutral faces as a function of priming (neutral vs. secure) and attachment avoidance. Individuals high in avoidance habitually tend to withdraw from, or otherwise dismiss, emotionally salient stimuli. Here, we operationalized attentional withdrawal based on both task performance in the dot-probe task and microsaccadic movements. In addition, unlike previous studies where priming salience for the individual participant has been unclear, we used a standardized narrative method for attachment script assessment, securing an indication of how strongly each participant was primed. Dot-probe data significantly captured the link between avoidance and attentional disengagement, though from all facial stimuli (angry and neutral). Although microsaccadic movements did not capture avoidant attentional disengagement, they positively correlated to dot-probe data suggesting measurement convergence. Avoidance was associated with weaker security priming and no overall effect of priming on attention was found, indicating a need for further exploration of suitable priming methods to bypass avoidant deactivation. Our results provide a first indication that, as an implicit looking measure, microsaccadic movements can potentially reveal where early attention is directed at the exact moment of stimulus presentation.

State Attachment Variability: Between- and within-Person Level Associations with Trait Attachment and Psychological Problems

Research suggests that inter-individual differences in the degree of state attachment variability are related to differences in trait attachment and psychological problems between children. In this study, we tested whether such associations are also relevant at a within-person level, and if so, whether intra-individual fluctuations in the degree of variability were predictive of or predicted by intra-individual fluctuations in trait attachment and psychological problems. Children (N = 152; M_age = 10.41 years, SD_age = 0.60 at time 1) were tested three times over a period of one year. At each timepoint, children reported on their expectations of maternal support in different distressing situations. Additionally, we administered measures of trait attachment to children and psychological problems to children and their mothers. We used Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models to distinguish between-person from within-person associations between these constructs over time. The results revealed that the degree of state attachment variability was mainly relevant to understand differences between children in trait attachment and psychological problems: children who overall showed more state attachment variability were overall less securely attached at a trait-level and reported more psychological problems. Although evidence for within-person associations was less robust, there was some indication that the degree of state attachment variability might be related to the development of trust and psychological problems at a within-person level.

Attachment as a framework to facilitate empowerment for people with severe mental illness

OBJECTIVES

Recovery and empowerment have evolved into key objectives in the treatment and care of people with severe mental illness (SMI), and interest has grown in the role of social relationships in recovery. This study is the first to explore whether attachment styles are related to levels of empowerment, and secondly, whether attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance are associated with lower empowerment levels, independently of quality and frequency of social contact.

DESIGN

We used a cross-sectional design.

METHODS

In a sample of 157 participants with SMI in outpatient care, associations between attachment (Revised Adult Attachment Scale), self-reported social functioning, and empowerment (Netherlands Empowerment List) were assessed.

RESULTS

Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were both associated with lower levels of empowerment. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the prediction of empowerment was significantly improved by adding attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance to quality and frequency of social contact. Attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and quality of social contact were significant predictors; frequency of social contact was not.

CONCLUSIONS

Although our design does not allow causal conclusions, our results highlight the importance of interpersonal processes and behaviours as routes to improving empowerment for people with SMI. A promising approach might thus consist of securing attachment bonds with significant others so that the self and the other are perceived as reliable resources. Our findings also feature the importance of reciprocity and equality in social relationships. Taken together, our study emphasizes the value of social, contextualized interventions in recovery work for people with SMI.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Working towards attachment safety in interpersonal relations may be important in recovery-oriented treatment and care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). Helping people with SMI to recognize and change how they tend to relate themselves to others may promote engagement and effectiveness of recovery-oriented treatment and care. Reciprocity and equality in social relationships as vital complements to the more one-sided nature of 'standing alongside' and offering support may be important requisites for empowerment.

Here for You: Attachment and the Growth of Empathic Support for Friends in Adolescence

Attachment was examined as a predictor of teens' empathic support for friends in a multimethod longitudinal study of 184 U.S. adolescents (58% Caucasian, 29% African American, 13% other) followed from ages 14 to 18. Adolescents' secure state of mind regarding attachment at 14 predicted teens' greater capacity to provide empathic support during observed interactions with friends across ages 16-18 (B_average  = .39). Teens' empathic support was generally stable during this period, and less secure teens were slower to develop these skills. Further, teens' attachment security predicted the degree to which friends called for their support (B_average  = .29), which was associated with teens' responsiveness to such calls. The findings suggest that secure attachment predicts teens' ability to provide empathic support in close friendships.

The influence of organizational death on work priorities and the moderating role of attachment internal working models

Downturns in the global economy have caused even large organizations to cease to operate; a phenomenon often dubbed "organizational death". Two studies focused on individual coping strategies in times of organizational death and the possible moderating role of attachment as a personality factor. Experiment 1 (N = 162) explored the effects of the saliency of organizational death on work priorities, and the moderating role of dispositional attachment orientation. Experiment 2 (N = 119) examined the interaction between dispositional attachment and the recall of an attachment event on work priorities. Participants reported their work priorities after being primed to imagine that their organization must either shut down or undergo an organizational crisis (or were assigned to a neutral control group), and completed the Experiences in Close Relationships scale to determine their attachment orientation. In Experiment 2, participants were also asked to recall a secure/insecure event after organizational death (or organizational crisis) priming to test the impact of external attachment event recall saliency and its interaction with dispositional attachment on work priorities. Dispositional avoidance (but not anxiety) moderated the effects of the organizational priming condition on work priorities. Recall of an attachment event interacted with dispositional avoidance (but not anxiety) on work priorities after organizational death priming. The saliency of organizational death mitigated the moderating role of individual differences on the effects of both dispositional orientation and priming of an attachment event on work priorities. Thus, a significant event that undermines one of the pillars of security in adulthood may lessen individual differences in work priorities following this exposure.

Do Infant Faces Maintain the Attention of Adults With High Avoidant Attachment?

We investigated whether adults have attentional bias toward infant faces, whether it is moderated by infant facial expression, and the predictive effect of the adult attachment state on it. One hundred unmarried nulliparous college students [50 men and 50 women; aged 17–24 years (M = 19.70, SD = 1.35)] were recruited. Each completed a self-report questionnaire—the Chinese version of the State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM), and a dot-probe task with a stimulus presentation duration of 500 ms, which used 192 black-and-white photographs of 64 people (32 infants and 32 adults; each person displayed three expressions: happy, neutral, and sad) as the experimental stimuli. The results showed that, at the duration of 500 ms, individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces disappeared, regardless of the facial expression. However, when the interaction between avoidant attachment state and face was controlled, the attentional bias was significant again, and the avoidant attachment state negatively predicted individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This indicates that at the suprathreshold stage, there are individual differences in the attentional bias toward infant faces, and high avoidant attachment will weaken individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This study advances previous studies that focused only on individuals' attention to infant faces occurring at the early processing stage of attention. The results provide direction for interventions; specifically, changing the attachment state of avoidant individuals can affect their attention to infants, which may promote the establishment of parent–child relationships.

Attachment and attitudes toward children: effects of security priming in parents and non-parents

The present two-study investigation is the first to examine whether experimentally boosting attachment security (security priming) affects attitudes in the parenting domain for both parents and non-parents. Mothers (n = 72) and childless undergraduates (n = 82) were randomly assigned to a neutral or a secure prime condition and then completed measures of implicit attitudes (a child-focused version of the Go/No-Go Association Task) and explicit attitudes (self-reported) toward children. Following the priming manipulation, mothers in the secure prime condition had more positive implicit attitudes toward their child compared to mothers in the neutral prime condition. Security priming also increased mothers' positive explicit attitudes toward their children, but only among mothers who scored high on self-reported attachment-related avoidance. No priming effects emerged among non-parents. These results provide the first evidence for a causal link between parental attachment security and parental attitudes toward children.

Between Action and Emotional Survival During the COVID-19 era: Sensorimotor Pathways as Control Systems of Transdiagnostic Anxiety-Related Intolerance to Uncertainty

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic and aligned social and physical distancing regulations increase the sense of uncertainty, intensifying the risk for psychopathology globally. Anxiety disorders are associated with intolerance to uncertainty. In this review we describe brain circuits and sensorimotor pathways involved in human reactions to uncertainty. We present the healthy mode of coping with uncertainty and discuss deviations from this mode. Methods: Literature search of PubMed and Google Scholar. Results: As manifestation of anxiety disorders includes peripheral reactions and negative cognitions, we suggest an integrative model of threat cognitions modulated by sensorimotor regions: "The Sensorimotor-Cognitive-Integration-Circuit." The model emphasizes autonomic nervous system coupling with the cortex, addressing peripheral anxious reactions to uncertainty, pathways connecting cortical regions and cost-reward evaluation circuits to sensorimotor regions, filtered by the amygdala and basal ganglia. Of special interest are the ascending and descending tracts for sensory-motor crosstalk in healthy and pathological conditions. We include arguments regarding uncertainty in anxiety reactions to the pandemic and derive from our model treatment suggestions which are supported by scientific evidence. Our model is based on systematic control theories and emphasizes the role of goal conflict regulation in health and pathology. We also address anxiety reactions as a spectrum ranging from healthy to pathological coping with uncertainty, and present this spectrum as a transdiagnostic entity in accordance with recent claims and models. Conclusions: The human need for controllability and predictability suggests that anxiety disorders reactive to the pandemic's uncertainties reflect pathological disorganization of top-down bottom-up signaling and neural noise resulting from non-pathological human needs for coherence in life.

Compassion: From Its Evolution to a Psychotherapy

The concept, benefits and recommendations for the cultivation of compassion have been recognized in the contemplative traditions for thousands of years. In the last 30 years or so, the study of compassion has revealed it to have major physiological and psychological effects influencing well-being, addressing mental health difficulties, and promoting prosocial behavior. This paper outlines an evolution informed biopsychosocial, multicomponent model to caring behavior and its derivative "compassion" that underpins newer approaches to psychotherapy. The paper explores the origins of caring motives and the nature and biopsychosocial functions of caring-attachment behavior. These include providing a secure base (sources of protection, validation, encouragement and guidance) and safe haven (source of soothing and comfort) for offspring along with physiological regulating functions, which are also central for compassion focused therapy. Second, it suggests that it is the way recent human cognitive competencies give rise to different types of "mind awareness" and "knowing intentionality" that transform basic caring motives into potentials for compassion. While we can care for our gardens and treasured objects, the concept of compassion is only used for sentient beings who can "suffer." As psychotherapy addresses mental suffering, cultivating the motives and competencies of compassion to self and others can be a central focus for psychotherapy.

The Dual Function Model of Attachment Security Priming: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Evidence

According to attachment theory, security providing attachment figures fulfill two main functions: (1) safe haven-providing safety and comfort and reducing stress-helping people regain a sense of security; and (2) secure base-providing resources and a base from which people can spring into action. According to the Dual Function of Security Priming Model, security priming can result in one of two outcomes paralleling these two functions. Which outcome is likely to present itself depends on the level of stress imposed by the context. Here we describe the Dual Function Model of Security Priming (DFSP) Model and provide evidence from a study examining the effects of attachment security priming on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity. In the study, participants were exposed to security-related cues under high or low/no-stress conditions, while their salivary cortisol concentrations were measured. Cortisol is a suitable index as it is released not only in response to stress, but also more generally when energy needs to be mobilized. We found that while security priming led to significant decreases in salivary cortisol concentrations when presented after a stressor (stress reduction), it led to a significant increase in salivary cortisol concentrations when presented before the stressor (energy mobilization).

Sustainable Compassion Training: Integrating Meditation Theory With Psychological Science

Meditation programs continue to proliferate in the modern world, with increasing participation from scientists and many others who seek to improve physical, mental, relational, and social flourishing. In developing such programs, the meditation practices have been adapted to meet the needs of modern cultures. However, through that adaptation, important contextual factors of traditional contemplative cultures are often dropped or forgotten. This article presents a system of compassion and mindfulness training, Sustainable Compassion Training (SCT), which is designed to help people cultivate increasingly unconditional, inclusive, and sustainable care for self and others. SCT aims to recover important contextual factors of meditation that flexibly meet the diverse needs of modern secular and religious participants. SCT draws on Tibetan Buddhism in dialogue with caregivers, other contemplative traditions and relevant scientific theories to inform meditative transformation for secular contexts. We provide an overview of SCT meditations that includes both contemplative and scientific theories that draw out important features of them. Each meditation includes novel hypotheses that are generated from this dialogical process. We also provide links to audio-guided meditations.

Recovering the Relational Starting Point of Compassion Training: A Foundation for Sustainable and Inclusive Care

The cultivation of compassion through meditation training is of increasing interest to scientists, health-care providers, educators, and policymakers as an approach to help address challenging personal and social issues. Yet people encounter critical inner psychological barriers to compassion that limit the effectiveness of compassion training-including the lack of a secure base, aversion to suffering, feeling alone in suffering, and reductive impressions of others. These barriers emerge, in part, from a lack of relational support and are exacerbated by modernist conceptions that present meditation as an autonomous, self-help practice. This article proposes a solution centered on relationality that is derived from the integration of diverse areas of psychology with contemplative traditions. Theories and findings from social, developmental, and health psychology can inform meditation programs and help recover important relational elements of compassion training from traditional cultures that address common barriers to compassion and thus promote more sustainable and inclusive care. In so doing, this article illustrates the value of psychological theories for translating important contextual elements from contemplative traditions into diverse modern settings.

Intergenerational attachment orientations: Gender differences and environmental contribution

After more than four decades of research and almost 100 attachment studies, the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of attachment still remain unclear. To better understand the mechanisms moderating the associations of attachment orientations from one generation to the next, this empirical study examined the roles of 1) shared and non-shared environmental factors that characterize critical events in adulthood such as career choice, income and child care; 2) gender differences in attachment between parents (Generation 1, G1) and their adult offspring (Generation 2, G2) and their possible interactions. A sample of 321 families with G2 adults aged 18 and over and two G1 parents up to the age of 81 took part in this study. Both generations completed the Experiences in Close Relationships attachment measure as well as a comprehensive detailed measure of current core characteristics in adulthood (e.g. employment status, income, whether they had children) and demographic variables (gender, age). The findings suggest that the associations between the attachment orientations of G1 and the attachment orientations of G2 were moderated by G2’s income, their G1 paternal income and employment status, whether G2 had children (G3) of their own, and their family status after controlling for the age of G2, and the age of both paternal and maternal G1. When the associations for both paternal and maternal G1attachment orientation with both their male and female G2 was analyzed separately, this accounted for 35% of the variance of males’ G2 attachment orientation. The discussion focuses on the contribution of these findings to attachment theory and draws clinical conclusions.

Cognitive Fusion Mediates the Impact of Attachment Imagery on Paranoia and Anxiety

Background

Paranoia, in both clinical and non-clinical groups, is characterised by unfounded interpersonal threat beliefs. Secure attachment imagery attenuates paranoia, but little is known about the mechanisms of change. Cognitive fusion describes the extent to which we can ‘step back’ from compelling beliefs, to observe these as mental events, and is implicated in psychopathology cross-diagnostically.

Aims

This study extends previous research demonstrating the impact of attachment imagery on paranoia and anxiety to determine whether cognitive fusion mediates these relationships.

Method

We utilised a randomized experimental design and recruited an analogue sample with high levels of non-clinical paranoia to test the impact of imagery and the role of cognitive fusion.

Results

Secure attachment imagery resulted in reduced paranoia and anxiety compared to threat/insecure imagery. Cognitive fusion mediated the relationships between imagery and paranoia, and imagery and anxiety.

Conclusions

Secure attachment imagery is effective in reducing paranoia and anxiety and operates via cognitive fusion. In clinical practice, these interventions should seek to facilitate the ability to ‘step back’ from compelling threat beliefs, in order to be most beneficial.

Enhancing the "Broaden and Build" Cycle of Attachment Security in Adulthood: From the Laboratory to Relational Contexts and Societal Systems

Attachment theory emphasizes both the importance of the availability of caring, supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, for developing a sense of safety and security, and the beneficial effects of this sense of security on psychosocial functioning and physical and mental health. In this article, we briefly review basic concepts of attachment theory, focusing on the core construct of attachment security and present evidence concerning the ways in which this sense can be enhanced in adulthood. Specifically, we review findings from laboratory experiments that have momentarily enhanced the sense of attachment security and examined its effects on emotion regulation, psychological functioning, and prosocial behavior. We then review empirical findings and ideas concerning security enhancement by actual relationship partners, non-human symbolic figures, and societal systems in a wide variety of life domains, such as marital relationships, psychotherapy, education, health and medicine, leadership and management, group interactions, religion, law, and government.

Boosting attachment security to cope with threats: Behavioral and ERPs findings

Attachment security describes a sense of safety and security felt by individuals and promotes mental health. The mechanism by which attachment security buffers against psychological threat remains unclear, however. Here, we explored how attachment security attenuates the response to threatening information using a signal detection theory (SDT) and event-related potentials (ERPs) approach. Participants were assigned to an attachment security priming condition or a control condition. After a priming procedure, behavioral data and electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded while participants categorized threatening and neutral pictures. Our behavioral results revealed that attachment security biased participant responses to categorizing the two types of pictures; participants in the control condition exhibited a tendency to categorize stimuli as threatening, whereas those in the attachment security condition tended to categorize stimuli as neutral. Meanwhile, attachment security priming modulated early attention processes, reflected by an increased P200. The findings reported here suggest that attachment security buffers against external threats by modulating individual response preferences, the effects of which manifest in the early stages of attentional processing.

Associations Between Attachment Insecurities and Psychological Violence in a Sample of Court-Mandated Batterers

We conducted a survey-based study looking at the associations among attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance), relationship functioning, and psychological domestic violence. We looked at three relationship functioning variables (i.e., anger management, communication, and conflict resolution) and three domestic psychological violence variables (i.e., derogation and control, jealous-hypervigilance, and threats-control of space). Data were collected from 76 male and 21 female court-mandated batterers. Participants completed the self-report measures of attachment insecurities, relationship functioning, and psychological domestic violence-related variables. Overall, attachment insecurities were negatively associated with relationship functioning and positively associated with psychological domestic violence outcomes. Among the whole sample, attachment anxiety correlated positively with derogation and control and with jealous-hypervigilance. There were also differential attachment associations by gender. Attachment anxiety correlated positively with threats of controlling space only among men, and with derogation and control and jealous-hypervigilance only among women. Finally, avoidance correlated negatively with communication only among women. Overall, this pattern of results is consistent with predictions derived from attachment theory: attachment insecurities are associated with poor relationship functioning and high rates of domestic violence.

Adult Attachment Orientations and Social Networking Site Addiction: The Mediating Effects of Online Social Support and the Fear of Missing Out

Evidence supports predictive roles of adult attachment orientations for the maintenance of social networking site (SNS) addiction, but the underlying mechanisms are mostly unknown. Based on attachment theory, this study explored whether online social support and the fear of missing out mediated the relationship between insecure attachment and social networking site addiction among 463 college students in China. A questionnaire was used to collect data using the Experience in Close Relationship Scale-Short Form, online social support scale, fear of missing out scale, and Chinese Social Media Addiction Scale. The results showed that online social support and fear of missing out mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and social networking site addiction in parallel paths and serially, and online social support negatively mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and social networking site addiction. Theoretically, the present study contributes to the field by showing how insecure attachment is linked to SNS addiction. Practically, these findings could aid in future studies on SNS addiction prevention and interventions. Limitations of the present study were discussed.

State attachment moderates the maternal-related neural responses to infant faces

Adult attachment is particularly known for the modulating role of caregiving motivation and behavior. Although most studies consider attachment style relatively stable, it may also be affected by various situational factors, and these temporary fluctuations are related to meaningful behaviors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study aims to examine whether neural responses to infant faces are moderated by participants' state attachment. The results indicated that state attachment security was positively associated with increased inferior orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and insula activation to infant crying. State attachment anxiety was positively associated with increased insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activation to infant crying as well as enhanced cuneus activation to infant joy. In contrast, state attachment avoidance was negatively associated with amygdala activity in response to both infant joy and crying as well as insula and ACC activation in response to infant joy. Moderation analysis found that the relationship between the prediction effect of state attachment avoidance on ACC activity was gradually weakened with the attenuation of participants' trait attachment avoidance. These results demonstrate that neural responses to infant faces are moderated by individual differences in state attachment, thereby demonstrating that state attachment is an effective measure to capture the variation in maternal ability.

Security priming improves attentional processing to infant emotions among insecurely attached women: The different roles of supraliminal and subliminal priming

In two ERP experiments, we examined the attention-related mechanism involved in perceiving infant emotions following exposure to security priming. Specifically, we examined how security priming affected securely and insecurely attached women. We found that both supraliminal and subliminal security priming resulted in increased attention allocation in anxiously and avoidantly attached women but had no effect on securely attached women. Moreover, we also found that supraliminal and subliminal security priming differed in their effectiveness in increasing attention allocation among anxiously and avoidantly attached women. Supraliminal security priming were more effective for anxiously attached women, whereas subliminal security priming were more effective for avoidantly attached women. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.