Attachment state of mind and perceptual processing of emotional stimuli.
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attachment state of mind and perceptual processing of social and non-social, affective, and neutral material. A total of 57 young adults completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) plus an experimental task in which their perceptual thresholds to different types of pictures were assessed. Significant correlations were found between the AAI dimensions and perceptual thresholds for social stimuli such as social interactions or human faces displaying emotional expressions. As expected, no relationships were found between the AAI and perception of neutral stimuli. The pattern of correlations was especially clear for the dismissing dimension. The results suggest that higher vigilance to social stimuli is related to dismissing attachment tendencies and, to a milder degree, to preoccupied tendencies.
Maier
Markus A
MA
Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstrasse 13, 80802 München, Germany. maier@edupsy.uni-muenchen.de
Bernier
Annie
A
Pekrun
Reinhard
R
Zimmermann
Peter
P
Strasser
Karin
K
Grossmann
Klaus E
KE
D000328:Adult; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D010465:Perception; D012938:Social Perception