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...tructures that are relevant to relationship functioning in adulthood (e.g., sex role schemas, social exchange scripts), attachment theory is concerned with mental representations that center on the regulation and fulfillment of attachment-related needs, namely, the maintenance of closeness and felt security in valued relationships. Attachment theorists refer to these cognitiveaffective representations as internal working models of attachment, and they are thought to be rooted, at least in part, in the quality of one’s early relationships with caretakers and other important attachment figures (Bowlby, 1973). Once developed, these models are thought to operate largely outside of awareness and to play an important role in guiding perception, emotion, and behavior in attachment-relevant contexts (Collins & Allard, 2001; Collins & Read, 1994). Much of the adult attachment literature has focused on individual differences in styles of attachment. These styles refer to chronic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving in close relationships, and they are thought to reflect differences in internal working models of attachment. Adult attachment researchers typically define four prototypic attachment st...

Citation Context

...tion and fulfillment of attachment-related needs, namely, the maintenance of closeness and felt security in valued relationships. Attachment theorists refer to these cognitiveaffective representations as internal working models of attachment, and they are thought to be rooted, at least in part, in the quality of one’s early relationships with caretakers and other important attachment figures (Bowlby, 1973). Once developed, these models are thought to operate largely outside of awareness and to play an important role in guiding perception, emotion, and behavior in attachment-relevant contexts (Collins & Allard, 2001; Collins & Read, 1994). Much of the adult attachment literature has focused on individual differences in styles of attachment. These styles refer to chronic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving in close relationships, and they are thought to reflect differences in internal working models of attachment. Adult attachment researchers typically define four prototypic attachment styles derived from two underlying dimensions: attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance. The anxiety dimension refers to one’s sense of relational self-worth and acceptance (vs. rejection) by othe...

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...nd in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. —John Milton (1608-1674) Close relationships are filled with ambiguity, and understanding the behavior of others can sometimes be difficult and frustrating. Nevertheless, most people manage to navigate their interpersonal lives with relative ease, guided by their past experiences and existing social knowledge. Indeed, a large body of research indicates that many aspects of social perception are guided by topdown, theory-driven processes in which people’s existing goals, schemas, and expectations shape the way they view new information (Taylor, 1998). Clearly, such processes are adaptive because they allow individuals to process information efficiently and to behave in new situations without evaluating each one from the beginning. Nevertheless, for those who hold unfavorable images of themselves and pessimistic models of relationships, top-down processes can be problematic when they predispose these individuals to perceive their partners in negative ways and to behave in ways that support these perceptions. In this article, we use attachment theory as a framework for exploring these processes by examining the association between working m...

Citation Context

...attachment-related needs, namely, the maintenance of closeness and felt security in valued relationships. Attachment theorists refer to these cognitiveaffective representations as internal working models of attachment, and they are thought to be rooted, at least in part, in the quality of one’s early relationships with caretakers and other important attachment figures (Bowlby, 1973). Once developed, these models are thought to operate largely outside of awareness and to play an important role in guiding perception, emotion, and behavior in attachment-relevant contexts (Collins & Allard, 2001; Collins & Read, 1994). Much of the adult attachment literature has focused on individual differences in styles of attachment. These styles refer to chronic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving in close relationships, and they are thought to reflect differences in internal working models of attachment. Adult attachment researchers typically define four prototypic attachment styles derived from two underlying dimensions: attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance. The anxiety dimension refers to one’s sense of relational self-worth and acceptance (vs. rejection) by others. The avoidance dimen...