Kevin MacDonald, Emily Anne Patch, Aurelio Jose Figueredo (2015)
Abstract
Previous research has indicated two dimensions of attachment,
Avoidance and Anxiety. The main purpose of this paper is to show that
Avoidance is better conceptualized as Nurturance/Love within an
evolved systems perspective on personality, and that such a
reinterpretation provides a straightforward way of interpreting age
changes in patterns of sex differences and heritability of attachment. The
Anxiety dimension found in attachment research is conceptualized as
trust in the face of threat resulting from an Internal Working Model
based on experiences with the mother in situations pulling for fear and
influenced by individual differences in the personality system of
emotionality/neuroticism. Literature is reviewed showing that the two
dimensions of Nurturance/Love and Trust have important differences,
including different evolutionary functions and phylogeny, as well as
different emotions, brain mechanisms, and patterns of sex differences and heritability. This model is investigated using two versions of the
Experiences in Close Relationships Survey yielding measures of Anxiety
and Avoidance, and the Interpersonal Adjective Scale-Revised-Big 5, the
latter chosen because this personality measure is designed to measure
Nurturance/Love in a manner more consistent with an evolutionary
perspective on close relationships. 635 subjects participated in the study.
Results supported the hypotheses of a strong negative association
between Nurturance/Love and Avoidance as measured by the ECR and
no association between Nurturance/Love and Anxiety as measured by
the ECR. Results support the view that there are two systems underlying
close relationships, Nurturance/Love as a physiological reward system
designed to motivate close relationships and parental investment, and a
Trust mechanism that functions to produce expectations of trust that
others will help under conditions of personal threat.
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