Preview

Essay On Attachment And Relational Satisfaction

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
648 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On Attachment And Relational Satisfaction
Title: Attachment and Relational Satisfaction
Kamal Rahmani
Indiana University Northwest
Psychology Today Magazine

Have you ever came across and ignored information relating to your romantic partner’s attachment style? Maybe while having a conversation with your lover or your lover’s family members or friends. Surprisingly, a recent study showed that one’s attachment style greatly affects their emotional communication which in turn influences the partner’s relational satisfaction.
The study examined associations among one partner’s levels of relational satisfaction and the other partner’s emotional communication and attachment style. Undergraduate students in a communication department at a university in the Southwest U.S. administered questionnaires in person to one dating or married couple they knew. In total, 581 heterosexual couples completed two questionnaires in private. Questionnaire A included items assessing emotional communication and attachment styles, while questionnaire B included items and questions measuring relational satisfaction as well as other relationship characteristics.
After gathering the data, researchers examined the correlation between one’s attachment style, which can be classified as secure, dismissive, preoccupied, or fearful, and the partner’s level of relational
…show more content…
It’s logical since secure individuals possess many positive personality traits. They are usually characterized by having a high self-esteem and being comfortable with intimacy. In addition, they tend to have a positive view of themselves and others and they communicate emotions in a socially skilled manner. These positive personality characteristics explain the high levels of the relational satisfaction reported by the partners of the participants who were characterized as being

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Write a 700- to 1,050-word response explaining how you believe an individual’s attachment style can affect the types of love relationships he or she has.…

    • 145 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many researchers have studied attachment; however, John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth are the researchers responsible for the origination of the attachment theory, therefore also becoming catalysts for the research of attachment in the late eighteenth century. Attachment, as defined by Ainsworth, is “‘an affectional tie’ that an infant forms with a caregiver—a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (Berger, 2014, p. 142). Furthermore, as described in Berger, the attachment theory assesses the behaviors associated with four identified types of infant attachment. These four types include secure, insecure-resistant/ambivalent, insecure avoidant, and disorganized attachment. Berger defines each of these types as follows: securely…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Types of Attachment Meta-analysis Ainsworth et al. (1978) – Types of Attachment Strange situation findings Prior & Glaser (1006) – Types of Attachment…

    • 325 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The results proved that yes, secure attachment type is the most common form across the globe, supporting the idea that secure attachment is the best for healthy social and emotional development, but there are differences when it comes to the insecure attachment types.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Beauty bias – people assume beautiful people have better qualities, beauty has its benefits (job promotions, make more money) but beauty is often confused with talent. Beautiful people may be viewed as vain and promiscuous causing them to be lied to more and distrust praise…

    • 4389 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    PSYCH 600 Attachment Style

    • 1155 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Modern attachment theory, founded by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, studied the relationship between children and their caregivers. Attachment theory was applied to adult romantic relationships in the late 1980’s by Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver. They found interactions between adult romantic partners and interactions between children and their caregivers shared similarities. There are four main attachment styles identified in both adults and children. The adult styles are secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. The children styles are secure, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant, and disorganized. The core principles of attachment theory apply to both types of relationships.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition, I think that this study proves to be a significant headstart for new military couples to acknowledge before one of their partner were sent on tour. Even though it can be hard to apply in practice but a steady guildline for newcomer is better than none at all. Nonetheless, even though there had been previous research that had looked into relational uncertainy and relational maintenance behaviors but this is the "first to compare the predictive power of self, parter, and relationship uncertainty". This gives a different side of perspective on relational uncertainty as the individual would assess not only on the relationship iself, but the role of his/her relationship as well as themselves. I believe that this idea of studying relational uncertainty this way is very informative because it is interesting to not just find out about the overall relationship but what roles each individual plays in it as well which I believe is…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Write a 700- to 1,050-word response explaining how you believe an individual’s attachment style can affect the types of love relationships he or she has.…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Based on these observations, Ainsworth concluded that there were three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment. Researchers Main and Solomon (1986) added a fourth attachment style known as disorganized-insecure attachment. Numerous studies have supported Ainsworth's conclusions and additional research has revealed that these early attachment styles can help predict behaviours later in life.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bowlby Attachment Theory

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the 1980s, Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver were able to garner a lot of attention, then, when they turned attachment theory on adult relationships. In their studies, they looked at a number of couples, examining the nature of the attachments between them, and then observed how those couples reacted to various stressors and stimuli. In the case of adults, it would seem that a strong attachment is still quite important. For example, in cases where the adults had a weak attachment, there were feelings of inadequacy on the part of both parties. When attachments were too strong, there were issues with co-dependency. The relationships functioned best when both parties managed to balance intimacy with independence. Much as is the case with developing children, the ideal situation seemed to be an attachment that functioned as a secure base from which to reach out and gain experience in the world.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It has often been asked if the attachment styles with partners reflect the attachment styles with parents. Of the three attachment styles Alecia is reported to have an avoidant attachment style. She states that when beginning romantic relationships, she is usually hesitant. Also, that she tends to distance herself from the relationship once she is in one. Although Alecia appears to have an avoidant attachment style, this does not sentence her to a life without positive relationships. While attachment styles are one factor to functioning relationships, many other factors add to success in relationships. Likewise, Alecia had her first serious relationship when she was 18, and her longest relationship lasted for a little over a year.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Attachment Theory Paper

    • 745 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many factors that contribute to the theory of attachment. One of many different behavior patterns, attachment, seems to develop in a variety of ways due to the interaction of nature and nurture. Mary Ainsworth, who researches different aspects of attachment, defines attachment as “an emotional tie formed between one animal or person and another specific individual.” Chris McCandless displayed many different attributes that would make one believe that he has multiple different types of attachment disorders. One would be that throughout the movie you can feel the anger and resentment that he has towards his parents, you get the sense that he wants absolutely nothing to do with them. But even though he does not have a well-rounded relationship with his parents he is still able to have a functioning relationship with his sister. He is able to communicate with her in ways that he has never been able to with his parents and that is a very vital factor in the movie because Chris comes off as very independent yet he takes on a somewhat parenting role for her. Another factor is that Chris is more of a traditionalist; he doesn’t like to live the modern day lifestyle like his parents do and that is where they clash the most. Their viewpoints are complete opposites. It seems to me as if it has been a constant battle in their relationship so once he graduated he began to rebel. Instead of doing what the typical teenager would do, talking back and staying out past curfew, he runs away and drops off of the grid. Chris was seeking the ultimate isolation and freedom, to where there were no rules, money, bills, or anything.…

    • 745 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humans are social beings and need to be with others and form relationships but our relationship behaviors do not "come naturally" and they need to be learned similar to other social skills (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2005, p.77). Many psychologists argue that the kind of relationships infants have with their primary caregivers is the blueprint for the later life relationships (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2005). Behaviors in adult relationships' are influenced by the kinds of relationships and attachments they have experienced in their early years with their primary caregivers. This is the basic perspective of the theory of attachment styles that claims that the kind of bonds we form early in life influence…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Denying Relationships

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are three main kinds of attachment in adults, secure autonomous, avoidant, and preoccupied. One characteristic of an individual that is securely attached is speaking in a manner that seems fresh and unrehearsed. In watching the interviews, I saw several instances in which this was the case. However, there were a few cases in which the participant only stated facts or would talk about what other people said about their relationship. Denying relationships or their impact is a characteristic associated with avoidant attachment. Some participants who picked a failed relationship as their most significant would talk a lot about the good times they had together and then when asked about the end of the relationship gave very vague answers or said they were not upset when the relationship came to an end. Preoccupied attached people often take conversational turns during the interview process. One particular case I coded exhibited preoccupied attachment. The participant kept bringing the conversation back to sex even when it had nothing to do with the question asked. Something I found very interesting in the interviews was participants choosing a previous relationship as their most significant even though they…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Attachment Styles Analysis

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Attachment styles can be explained by many different factors in a person’s life. The first-place humans learn attachment styles are relationships as children. Attachment styles can change throughout a person’s life depending on their environment. The four styles talked about in communications are secure, fearful, dismissive, and anxious/ambivalent. A secure style is when a person had a positive outlook on themselves and others. These people tend to have more trust in others. The second style, dismissive, is when a person has a positive perspective on themselves but not others. These people do not like to trust others. The third style is fearful. This is a person who does not have a positive view on anyone including themselves. A…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays