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.
Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstrasse 13, 80802 München, Germany. maier@edupsy.uni-muenchen.de
Markus A
MA
Maier
Annie
A
Bernier
Reinhard
R
Pekrun
Peter
P
Zimmermann
Karin
K
Strasser
Klaus E
KE
Grossmann
D000328:Adult; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D010465:Perception; D012938:Social Perception