WORKING MODELS OF ATTACHMENT - IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPLANATION, EMOTION,AND BEHAVIOR

Two studies examined attachment style differences in social perception . In Study 1, participants wrote open-ended explanations for hypotheti cal relationship events and described how they would feel and behave i n response to each event. Compared with secure participants, preoccupi ed participants explained events in more negative ways; they also repo rted more emotional distress and behaviors that were likely to lead to conflict. Avoidant participants also provided negative explanations, but did not report emotional distress. Path analysis indicated that at tachment style differences in behavior were mediated by explanation pa tterns and emotional distress. Study 2 was designed to replicate Study 1 and test the relative importance of attachment style and relationsh ip quality to predicting each outcome. Results indicated that both var iables were significant predictors of explanations, but only attachmen t style predicted emotional responses. These findings are consistent w ith the idea that adults with different working models of attachment a re predisposed to think, feel, and behave differently in their relatio nships.