M. Mikulincer et N. Horesh, Adult attachment style and the perception of others: The role of projective mechanisms, J PERS SOC, 76(6), 1999, pp. 1022-1034
In 3 reported studies the authors examined attachment-style differences in
the perception of others, and the hypothesis that projective mechanisms und
erlie these differences. In these studies, participants reported on their a
ttachment style and generated actual-self-traits and unwanted-self-traits;
Then, a 2nd session was conducted, in which impression formation about new
persons (Study 1), the ease of retrieval of memories about known persons (S
tudy 2), or memory inferences about learned features of fictional persons (
Study 3) were assessed. Findings indicate that whereas anxious-ambivalent p
ersons' impression formation, memory retrieval, and inferences about others
reflected the projection of their actual-self-traits, avoidant persons' re
sponses reflected the projection of their unwanted-self-traits. Findings ar
e discussed in terms of the regulatory goals and strategies that characteri
ze the mental representations of each attachment style.