Attachment and expectations about future relationships: Moderation by accessibility

This article examined the relationship between internal working models of s elf and other (Bowlby, 1969) and expectations for satisfaction in a future relationship, and how that relationship is moderated by the accessibility o f one's internal models. Study one showed that the model of self was predic tive of expected satisfaction, but the model of other was not. In study two , the results of study one were replicated. However, using a reaction time task to measure the chronic accessibility of internal models, it was shown that the relationship between model of self and expected satisfaction exist ed only for people with highly accessible internal models. The implications of these findings for a more cognitive view of attachment-processes is dis cussed.