Assessment of attachment styles in adults - Preliminary experiences with the German version of prototype evaluation

Starting with a review of relevant fields of studies in psychotherapy relat ed to attachment theory, this paper describes an economic method to assess attachment styles in adults. The method was originally developed in the U.S . by the group of Paul Pilkonis using the prototype methodology. Based-upon an attachment interview - similar to the adult attachment interview (AAI)- the similarity of a person with a total of seven prototypical attachment p atterns has to be rated. The original version and its development are descr ibed as well as all the modifications that lead to the current manualized G erman version (1.0) of the method. The paper:also includes;a summary of stu dies dealing with the reliability and validity of the method from the Anglo american as well as German literature.