Attachment and exploration in adults: Chronic and contextual accessibility

It was predicted that attachment is associated with exploration in adults. An exploration scale that measures willingness to explore the physical, soc ial, and intellectual environments was constructed. Study 1 measured chroni c attachment patterns and found that both anxiety and avoidance correlated negatively with the desire to explore. Study 2 primed attachment styles by exposing participants to attachment-elated sentences in an ostensible sente nce memorization task. Participants primed with a secure style were more op en to exploration than were participants primed with the insecure styles. T ogether, the results of Study I and Study 2 provide converging evidence tha t the behavior systems of attachment and exploration are linked in adults.