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Imagining the Future or Recalling the Past: Effects on State Attachment Security Through Episodic Priming
1Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Summary
Imagining a future secure relationship can boost attachment security, similar to recalling past relationships. This suggests future thinking may enhance feelings of security, though more research is needed.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Attachment Theory
Background:
- Attachment theory explains how early relationships influence adult connection.
- State attachment security can fluctuate based on current experiences.
- Previous research primarily focused on recalling past relationships to influence attachment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if imagining a future secure relationship can increase state attachment security.
- To compare the effects of future thinking versus episodic recall on attachment security.
- To examine the impact on attachment anxiety and avoidance.
Main Methods:
- A within-subjects design with 88 participants.
- Three weekly sessions: future thinking, episodic recall, and a neutral control.
- Imagery-and-writing tasks followed by state attachment measures.
Main Results:
- Both future thinking and episodic recall significantly increased state attachment security compared to the neutral control.
- No significant difference was found between the future thinking and recall conditions.
- Effects on attachment anxiety and avoidance were minimal and not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
- Episodic future thinking can temporarily enhance feelings of felt security.
- Further research is required to establish the functional and intervention significance of future thinking for attachment.
- The findings support the malleability of state attachment security through relational priming.
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