Attachment Working Model Essay

The article, Attachment Working Models Twist Memories of Relationship Events, describes the investigation of people’s recollections of their behavior after having conflict-resolution discussions with their significant other. The attachment theory states that the encounters we have with our caregivers throughout our childhood and adolescent years create individual representations of how we see others and ourselves. The course of our development and the relationships we share with our caregivers influence the type of attachments we will form with our romantic partners in the future. These attachment orientations can be identified using two types of measurement: avoidance and anxiety. People who score high in avoidance are typically independent and non-reliant on their significant other for emotional comfort and stability, whereas those who score high in anxiety rely on intimacy and closeness with their partner. With this in mind, Simpson, Rholes, and Winterheld predicted that avoidant individuals would recollect being unsupportive and …show more content…
First, the experimenters had each partner complete a questionnaire to assess their attachment orientation. Once the questionnaire was completed, the couple was taken into the same room and asked to individually right down the top two problems in their relationship. The highest problem on partner one’s list and the highest problem on partner two’s list were then discussed in two separate videotaped discussions. At the conclusion of the two discussions, the participants where then asked to individually assess how supportive and distant they felt themselves to be during the discussion. One week later, each partner was asked to assess their support and distance again in order to measure their individual recollections of how they perceived themselves to