Styles of Attachment Still Exist in Us?

Styles of attachment still exist in us?

The word Psychology has opened up a fascinating world to me. Before enrolling in

this class I was not sure about what psychology “is”. I thought it only meant a way to

penetrate someone’s thoughts. However, I found out that psychology, according to

Carole and Carol (2012, p.12) is actually “the discipline concerned with behavior and

the mental processes and how they are affected by an organism’s physical state,

mental state, and external environment”. Throughout the past few weeks, with the

help of critical thinking I have been able to define my term after raising a question

instead.

Aside from the basic concept, the most intriguing topic for me is the attachment,

which refers to the close relationship held by infants and their primary care‐givers

(Carole & Carol, 2012). What I found interesting is whether the infant–caregiver

attachment styles still apply to the adults and adolescents in their relationship with

family, friends and even lovers. For instance, I would show almost no emotions when

a close friend leave me and make little effort to seek out her again. This does not

necessarily mean that I don’t care for her. Conversely, this happens because of my

attachment to her. Is reasonable that I define myself as an insecurely attached

person who may be avoidant? Also, I was wondering whether the grown‐up’s

attachment (assume that it does exist) will be affected by their attachment at an

early age or even be the extension of it. To exemplify, will a person be too

sentimental in a relationship which results from the avoidant attachment in early age?

In order to eliminate my confusion, two measures were adopted which include both

resources and real life example searching.

Shaver et al. (1987) asserts that Parallels of 3 infant–caregiver attachment style still

exist in the adolescent and adult lovers, which have correlations with the

remembered relationships with parents. Another study they conduct indicates that

the adult’s romantic love experience can be predicted from their distinctive

attachment styles. Simultaneously, it confirms the possibility of the causal

relationship between the adult attachment and the relationship experiences with

parents (Shaver et al., 1987). This seems to accord with my assumption, nevertheless

I am keen on finding examples that are close to my life. Subsequently, I conducted a

relatively small survey within my close friends, among which 19 people gave me

feedback. As shown in the pie chart below, 15 out of 19 people found the avoidant,

secure, and anxious/ambivalent styles of attachment applicable to themselves. The

apply to

does no apply to