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Avoiding interference: adult attachment and emotional processing biases.

Robin S Edelstein1, Omri Gillath

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. redelste @umich.edu

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|December 8, 2007
PubMed
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Avoidant attachment styles reduce attention to distressing relationship words, especially in romantic partners. This emotional processing bias requires cognitive effort and is specific to attachment-related information.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Attachment theory explains how early relationships influence adult emotional processing.
  • Avoidant attachment is characterized by deactivating emotional expression and proximity seeking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate attachment-related differences in emotional processing biases.
  • To examine the role of relationship status and cognitive load on these biases.

Main Methods:

  • Emotional Stroop (ES) task using attachment-related and non-attachment-related emotional words.
  • Manipulation of cognitive load.
  • Assessment of attachment avoidance and relationship status.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Attachment avoidance correlated with reduced ES interference for attachment words.
  • This effect was stronger in individuals in romantic relationships.
  • Attentional biases were attenuated under cognitive load.
  • Avoidance was not linked to ES performance for non-attachment emotional words.

Conclusions:

  • Avoidant individuals can inhibit attention to threatening attachment information, requiring cognitive effort.
  • Relationship status moderates these avoidant defensive strategies.
  • Findings highlight the specificity of attentional biases in emotional functioning.