Lee A. Kirkpatrick

An Attachment-Theoretical Approach to Romantic Love and Religious Belief

This study conceptualizes personal religion, like romantic love, in terms of attachment theory and explores empirical relationships between adult attachment style and religious belief and behavior in an adult sample. Respondents who classified themselves as secure reported greater religious commitment and more positive images of God than insecure respondents. Avoidant respondents were more likely to describe themselves as agnostics; anxious/ambivalent respondents were more likely to report having had a glossolalia experience. Security of attachment to God was positively associated with security of adult attachment, but only among respondents who described their childhood maternal attachments as insecure. Attachment to God, in contrast to other religion variables, was strongly and significantly related to several mental and physical health outcomes. Results are interpreted in terms of mental models of attachment relationships, including relationships with God.

God as a Substitute Attachment Figure: A Longitudinal Study of Adult Attachment Style and Religious Change in College Students

In a two-wave survey study designed to extend and refine previous research on religion as an attachment process, college students completed a four-category attachment-style measure and several religiosity measures at Time 1; a subsample also completed identical religiosity measures about 4 months later (Time 2). Analysis of Time 1 data (N= 1,126) extended previous findings by demonstrating that positive mental models of both self and others were related cross-sectionally to positive images of God and perceived relationships with God. Longitudinal analyses (N = 297) revealed that positive religious change over time was predicted by negative models of self and positive models of others. Discussion focuses on the dynamics of religious belief and change as a function of psychological attachment processes.

Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect, Religiosity, and Personality Constructs

In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by (1) developing a dimensional attachment to God scale, and (2) demonstrating that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of affect and personality after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity. Questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by a sample of university students and community adults (total n = 374). Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance and anxiety. After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal orthodoxy, and loving God image, anxious attachment to God remained a significant predictor of neuroticism, negative affect, and (inversely) positive affect; avoidant attachment to God remained a significant inverse predictor of religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness. These findings are evidence that correlations between attachment to God and measures of personality and affect are not merely byproducts of confounding effects of socially desirable responding or other dimensions of religiosity. Since the publication of Bowlby’s (1969/1982) first volume more than three decades ago, attachment theory has been enormously influential in the study of social development in children as well as adults (Shaver and Cassidy 1999). More recently, Kirkpatrick (1992, 1999) proposed that the theory provides a powerful framework for understanding many aspects of religious belief, particularly with respect to perceived relationships with God. In support of this idea, numerous studies have shown that religious beliefs and behaviors are related cross-sectionally to individual differences in adult attachment experience (Kirkpatrick 1998; Kirkpatrick and Shaver 1992), and that religious change is empirically predicted longitudinally from retrospective reports of childhood attachment experience (Granqvist and Hagekull 1999; Kirkpatrick and Shaver 1990) and previous adult attachment experience (Kirkpatrick 1997, 1999). A central focus of the attachment-theoretical approach to religion concerns perceived attachments to God. Research has shown that such individual differences correlate inversely with loneliness, depression, and similar constructs (Kirkpatrick and Shaver 1990; Kirkpatrick, Shillito, and Kellas 1999). However, these findings suffer from several important limitations. First, individual differences in attachment to God have heretofore been measured using a crude categorical self-report measure with unknown reliability. Second, these findings are open to alternative interpretations in terms of potentially confounding factors, particularly (1) social desirability response sets and (2) other dimensions of religiosity that might be correlated with the attachment to God measure. The present research was designed to address these issues by developing a multidimensional measure of attachment to God, and demonstrating that these dimensions are predictive of measures of personality and affect after controlling for social desirability as well as other dimensions of religiosity related to attachment to God.

Cognitive-experiential self-theory and subjective probability: further evidence for two conceptual systems.

Three experiments (N = 1,331) demonstrated that research findings on suspiciousness about coincidences (Miller, Turnbull, & McFarland, 1989) can be accounted for in terms of subjective probability, as predicted by cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) but in contrast with the norm theory (NT) account offered by Miller et al. (1989). Ss participated in a hypothetical (Experiments 1 and 2) or real (Experiment 3) lottery game in which they chose between 2 bowls offering equivalent probabilities of winning or losing but differing with respect to absolute numbers (e.g., 1 in 10 vs. 10 in 100). Responses across 4 conditions (2 probability levels x 2 outcome types) and across the 3 experiments supported predictions derived from CEST but not those derived from NT. Results are discussed in terms of 2 conceptual systems, rational and experiential, that operate by different rules of inference.

Fundamentalism, Christian orthodoxy, and intrinsic religious orientation as predictors of discriminatory attitudes

A dimension of religiousness alternately referred to as orthodoxy or fundamentalism correlates more strongly with prejudice than do other religiosity measures. Five samples of college students, representing three universities and colleges in the US and Canada (total N=426) completed several religion scales and measures of discriminatory attitudes toward blacks, women, homosexuals, and communists. Fundamentalism was correlated more positively than Christian orthodoxy with discriminatory attitudes toward all targets. In multiple regression equations, fundamentalism was positively related to all measures of discriminatory attitudes, whereas Christian orthodoxy and intrinsic religious orientation were either unrelated or negatively related to these variables

A longitudinal study of changes in religious belief and behavior as a function of individual differences in adult attachment style

Four years after responding to a newspaper survey on attachment and close relationships, 146 women completed a follow-up survey on changes in their religious belief and experience during the interim period. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict Time 2 religion variables prospectively from adult attachment styles as measured at Time 1, statistically controlling for Time 1 religious commitment. Insecure-avoidant and insecure-anxious women, as measured at Time 1, were more likely than secure women to report having found a new relationship with God in the subsequent four-year period, and insecure-anxious women were more likely than both other groups to report a religious experience or conversion during that period. Results are interpreted in terms of religious beliefs serving a compensatory role for individuals lacking secure interpersonal attachments.

Predicting Prejudice from Religious Fundamentalism and Right-Wing Authoritarianism: A Multiple-Regression Approach

In a study designed to investigate the respective roles of religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism as predictors of prejudice against racial minorities and homosexuals, participants (47 males, 91 females) responded to a series of questionnaire measures of these constructs. Data were analyzed using multiple regression. Consistent with previous research, authoritarianism was a significant and strong positive predictor of both forms of prejudice. With authoritarianism statistically controlled, however, fundamentalism emerged as a significant negative predictor of racial prejudice but a positive predictor of homosexual prejudice. In a second study, we conducted parallel multiple regressions using the correlations from two previously published studies. The Study I results were replicated exactly, except that fundamentalism was a nonsignificant predictor of homosexual prejudice. We interpret the results as evidence that Christian fundamentalism consists of a second major component other than authoritarianism - related to Christian belief content - that is inversely related to some forms of prejudice (including racial prejudice) but not others (e.g., homosexual prejudice).

The functional domain specificity of self-esteem and the differential prediction of aggression

On the basis of an evolutionary theory of self-esteem (SE), it was hypothesized that the SE-aggression relationship differs across functionally distinct domains of SE and across contexts. In 2 experiments, participants had the opportunity to aggress against the evaluator of an essay they had written. In Study 1, self-perceived superiority was positively related to aggression, whereas social inclusion was inversely related to aggression. In Study 2, in which the context was altered to simulate a mating competition, only a measure of self-perceived mate value emerged as a (positive) predictor of aggression. Global SE failed to contribute to the prediction of aggression in either experiment. Statistically controlling for narcissism did not eliminate either set of findings. Implications for the conceptualization and measurement of SE and narcissism are discussed.

Religious Fundamentalism as a Predictor of Prejudice: A Two-Component Model

The present study aims to determine whether the empirical relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice can be accounted for in terms of the mutually opposing effects of Christian orthodoxy and right-wing authoritarianism using multiple regression. Three separate samples (total n = 320) completed measures of religious fundamentalism, right-wing authoritarianism, Christian orthodoxy, ethnic prejudice, and homosexual prejudice. Consistent with previous research, fundamentalism (1) was essentially unrelated to ethnic prejudice when considered alone; (2) was positively related to ethnic prejudice when orthodoxy was statistically controlled; and (3) was negatively related to ethnic prejudice when authoritarianism was statistically controlled. Finally, when both authoritarianism and orthodoxy were controlled simultaneously, fundamentalism was again unrelated to prejudice, whereas orthodoxy was negatively related and authoritarianism positively related. In contrast, fundamentalism was a significant positive predictor of prejudice against gays and lesbians irrespective of whether authoritarianism and/or orthodoxy were statistically controlled.

Romantic Jealousy and Adult Romantic Attachment

Research on romantic jealousy is consistent with the idea that jealousy is, at least in part, the product of threats to attachment relationships. Attachment theory was used as a framework for examining individual differences in the ways in which people experience and express jealousy. Emotional, behavioral, and cognitive concomitants of romantic jealousy were related to differences in attachment style in ways consistent with attachment theory. For example, anxious participants were relatively more likely than others to resist expressing their anger, avoidant participants were especially likely to turn their anger and blame against the interloper, and securely attached participants were especially likely to express anger toward the partner and to maintain their relationship. Differences in attachment style, not just differences in level of security, are predictive of qualitative individual differences in jealousy experiences.