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Attachment Security Priming Decreases Children's Physiological Response to Threat

Brandi Stupica1, Bonnie E Brett2, Susan S Woodhouse3

  • 1Alma College.

Child Development
|December 22, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Priming attachment security in children reduced physiological fear responses and fearful facial expressions. These effects were consistent regardless of the child's own attachment security level.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Attachment Theory
  • Emotion Regulation

Background:

  • Attachment security influences children's emotional and physiological responses to threats.
  • Understanding how to modulate fear reactions in children is crucial for psychological well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if subliminal priming of attachment security can reduce fear reactions in children.
  • To examine the interplay between attachment security priming and children's dispositional attachment security.

Main Methods:

  • Ninety 6- and 7-year-old children were randomly assigned to secure, happy, or neutral priming conditions.
  • Physiological (electrodermal reactivity, vagal augmentation) and expressive (facial expressions) fear responses were measured.
  • Dispositional attachment security was assessed, and its interaction with priming effects was analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Secure priming significantly decreased electrodermal reactivity and fearful facial expressions.
  • Higher dispositional attachment security was associated with lower electrodermal reactivity and fewer fearful expressions.
  • Priming effects on physiological and expressive measures were consistent across children with secure and insecure attachment styles.
  • Self-reported fear was not affected by priming or dispositional attachment security.

Conclusions:

  • Subliminal attachment security priming can effectively reduce objective fear responses in young children.
  • Attachment security, both primed and dispositional, plays a role in modulating fear reactivity.
  • Future research should explore interventions targeting self-reported fear in children.

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