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Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses
Published on: September 19, 2011
Attachment, mating, and parenting : An evolutionary interpretation
1Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State University, S110 Henderson Bldg., 16802, University Park, PA. jxb@psu.edu.
Abstract:
A modern evolutionary perspective emphasizing life history theory and behavioral ecology is brought to bear on the three core patterns of attachment that are identified in studies of infants and young children in the Strange Situation and adults using the Adult Attachment Interview. Mating and parenting correlates of secure/autonomous, avoidant/dismissing, and resistant/preoccupied attachment patterns are reviewed, and the argument is advanced that security evolved to promote mutually beneficial interpersonal relations and high investment parenting; that avoidant/dismissing attachment evolved to promote opportunistic interpersonal relations and low-investment parenting; and that resistant/preoccupied attachment evolved to foster "helper-at-the-nest" behavior and indirect reproduction.
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