Attachment security, values, and prosocial attitudes

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Attachment Theory

Background:

• Attachment styles, rooted in early relationships, shape individuals' models of self and others.
• Prosocial values and attitudes are crucial for understanding social behavior and interpersonal dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between adult attachment styles and prosocial values.
• To explore whether attachment styles predict differences in universal values and attitudes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Experiences in Close Relationships-Spanish (ECR-S) to assess attachment styles.
• Employed the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) to measure universal values.
• Assessed various prosocial attitudes in a sample of 717 university students.

Main Results:

• Secure attachment was associated with higher scores in self-transcendence and openness to change values.
• Insecure attachment correlated with higher scores in conservation and self-enhancement values.
• No significant differences in prosocial attitudes were found across different attachment styles.

Conclusions:

• Attachment styles are linked to fundamental differences in personal values, specifically self-transcendence, openness to change, conservation, and self-enhancement.
• While values differ, attachment styles did not significantly alter prosocial attitudes in this student sample.
• Findings highlight the interplay between attachment theory and universal values theory.