Katherine B. Carnelley

Attachment style differences in the processing of attachment–relevant information: Primed–style effects on recall, interpersonal expectations, and affect

The present study explored processing biases resulting from manipulating the temporal accessibility of relational schemas. By priming relational schemas, relationship–specific attachment styles were activated and their biasing effect on relevant information processing (namely recall for attachment–relevant words versus other words, interpersonal expectations, and affect) was examined. It was found that participants primed with a secure–style relational schema recalled more positive attachment words than those primed with an avoidant style. Although pre–priming endorsements of interpersonal expectations were influenced by global attachment style, once primed, participants showed primed–style–congruent responses. That is, primed secures showed higher endorsement of positive and lower endorsement of negative interpersonal expectations relative to the other primed style groups. Finally, primed secures reported more positive and less negative affect than the other primed style groups. Implications for understanding the way differential attachment experiences influence close relationships through life are considered.

The time course of grief reactions to spousal loss: evidence from a national probability sample.

Most studies of widowhood have focused on reactions during the first few years postloss. The authors investigated whether widowhood had more enduring effects using a nationally representative U.S. sample. Participants were 768 individuals who had lost their spouse (from a few months to 64 years) prior to data collection. Results indicated that the widowed continued to talk, think, and feel emotions about their lost spouse decades later. Twenty years postloss, the widowed thought about their spouse once every week or 2 and had a conversation about their spouse once a month on average. About 12.6 years postloss, the widowed reported feeling upset between sometimes and rarely when they thought about their spouse. These findings add to an understanding of the time course of grief.

Unraveling the role of forgiveness in family relationships

Testing the idea that the process of forgiveness is intrinsically different across diverse relationships, this study examined the role of forgiveness in different family relationships. In 2 laboratory sessions 1 year apart, 114 families (each including 2 parents and 1 child) completed a new measure of family forgiveness and many individual-level, relationship-level, and family-level variables that have been previously linked with forgiveness. After validating the measure of family forgiveness in cross-sectional analyses, investigators performed longitudinal analyses to examine the role of forgiveness in each family relationship over the 1-year interval. Results indicated many important positive consequences of forgiveness on individual traits, aspects of each family relationship, and general family environment. However, there were also important asymmetries in associates of forgiveness across parent-child and parent-parent relationships, demonstrating the relationship-bound nature of forgiveness.

Your Love Lifts Me Higher! The Energizing Quality of Secure Relationships:

Three studies tested and confirmed the hypothesis that secure attachment relationships lead to feelings of security and energy, as well as willingness to explore. In Study 1, priming a secure attachment relationship increased felt security and energy. In Studies 2 and 3, felt energy mediated the effect of (primed) secure attachment relationships on willingness to explore. In Study 3, the effect of (primed) secure attachment relationships on felt energy and willingness to explore was independent of general positive affect. Secure attachments energize partners, thus enabling exploration.

Priming a sense of security: What goes through people’s minds?

There is a growing literature charting the positive personal and interpersonal effects of security priming. Security primes enhance self- and relationship views, and even evaluations of outgroups, relative to control primes. We examine how security priming is experienced by individuals and how its effects differ from those produced by other positive affect and relationship-related primes. We analyze the written protocols produced by individuals in different priming conditions for frequency of felt security, care, merging, agency, communion, and nostalgia words. Security priming led to thoughts related to felt security, positive care, a sense of merging with another, positive emotion, and communion; furthermore, the effects of security priming could be distinguished from the effects of positive affect and other relationship-related primes. We discuss several directions for future research.

The associations between adult attachment, posttraumatic symptoms, and posttraumatic growth

Background and Objectives: Individual differences after trauma vary considerably and can range from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to posttraumatic growth (PTG). Current theoretical models cannot fully explain this variability. Therefore, we integrated attachment theory with Ehlers and Clarks model of PTSD to understand whether attachment style is associated with negative appraisals of a traumatic event(s), posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS), and PTG. Our aim was to test this integrated model PTSD in an analog sample who had experienced at least one traumatic event. Design: We used structural equation modeling to test the association of adult attachment and posttraumatic cognitions (self and world/others) with PTS and PTG using a cross-sectional, correlational design. Methods: The sample comprised 393 university staff and students (RangeAge= 18–49, 85% females) who completed online measures. Results: Attachment anxiety and negative posttraumatic self-cognitions were positively associated. Negative posttraumatic self-cognitions were positively associated with PTS. Attachment anxiety had an indirect effect (via negative posttraumatic self-cognitions) on PTS, whereas attachment avoidance predicted more negative posttraumatic world cognitions and lower perceived PTG. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of considering how attachment styles influence posttraumatic emotion regulation and cognitive processing of the trauma to determine posttraumatic mental health.

The effect of attachment orientation priming on pain sensitivity in pain-free individuals:

The current study examined the causal relationship between secure and anxious attachment orientations and pain sensitivity in a pain-free sample. In a double blind repeated measures study, a cold pressor task was used to induce acute pain in 95 participants before and after priming them with a secure or anxious attachment orientation or a neutral prime. Measures of pain threshold, tolerance, catastrophizing and intensity were taken. Compared to the neutral prime, secure and anxious primes resulted in higher tolerance and threshold. The experimental conditions did not differ in reported pain intensity or pain catastrophizing. These findings suggest a causal relationship between attachment experiences and pain sensitivity that may be of interest to those devising and researching pain management interventions.

The Effects of Attachment Priming on Depressed and Anxious Mood

Correlational evidence links attachment insecurity (attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) to depression and anxiety, but the causal directions of these relationships remain unspecified. Our aim (Study 1, N = 144) was to prime attachment anxiety and avoidance and test causal relationships between these attachment patterns and depressed and anxious mood. Attachment anxious-primed participants reported higher depressed mood than secure-primed participants. Furthermore, avoidant-primed and anxious-primed participants reported higher anxious mood compared with secure-primed participants. In Study 2 (N = 81) we tested the effectiveness of repeatedly priming attachment security (versus a neutral prime), in the laboratory and via texts, on improving depressed and anxious mood. Secure-primed (compared with neutral-primed) participants reported less anxious mood postprime and one day later. Repeated secure-primed (compared with neutral) participants reported marginally less depressed mood postprime and one day later. Discussion considers possible clinical implications for repeated security priming.

Texting "boosts" felt security

Attachment security can be induced in laboratory settings (e.g., Rowe & Carnelley, 2003) and the beneficial effects of repeated security priming can last for a number of days (e.g., Carnelley & Rowe, 2007). The priming process, however, can be costly in terms of time. We explored the effectiveness of security priming via text message. Participants completed a visualisation task (a secure attachment experience or neutral experience) in the laboratory. On three consecutive days following the laboratory task, participants received (secure or neutral) text message visualisation tasks. Participants in the secure condition reported significantly higher felt security than those in the neutral condition, immediately after the laboratory prime, after the last text message prime and one day after the last text prime. These findings suggest that security priming via text messages is an innovative methodological advancement that effectively induces felt security, representing a potential direction forward for security priming research.

Attachment and prejudice: The mediating role of empathy

In two studies, we examined the novel hypothesis that empathy is a mechanism through which the relationship between attachment patterns and prejudice can be explained. Study 1 examined primed attachment security (vs. neutral prime), empathy, and prejudice towards immigrants. Study 2 examined primed attachment patterns (secure, avoidant, anxious), empathy subscales (perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress), and prejudice towards Muslims. Across both studies, empathy mediated the relationship between primed attachment security and low prejudice levels. The findings suggest that enhancing felt security and empathic skills in individuals high in attachment-avoidance may lead to reduced prejudice.