The Importance Of Insecure Attachment

Insecure Attachment as Adaptive. Over 2 billion people in the world could be labeled as having an insecure attachment orientation. (Ein-Dor?) If this is the case, and prior research is correct in the assumption that insecure attachment leads to pathology, then it begs the following question: why has insecure attachment not been extinguished by evolution? In order to be so pervasive, insecure attachment must have some type of evolutionary function. Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper (1991) first presented this idea that attachment orientation (even insecure) may serve an evolutionary purpose. In their paper, they suggested that attachment orientations differed due to a need to maximize “reproductive fitness.” (p.??) What this means is that whether the child develops a secure or insecure attachment has a purpose in providing the child with the best chance of reproductive success once they hit …show more content…
This concept provides a reinterpretation of prior understanding of attachment theory, which had understood insecure attachment to be failure of the attachment figure to develop a secure bond. Instead, when viewed from the lens of reproductive fitness, all attachment orientations have an evolutionary purpose. (6.9) This concept fits in to an evolution-based lifespan model, suggesting that the function of early experience is to prepare a child for the world that they will inhabit in their lifespan. This preliminary idea has been supported by numerous studies. Ratto, Doyle, & Markiewicz (2016) found that individuals higher in attachment anxiety were actually less likely to show negative responses when discussing a difficult topic with a romantic partner. The authors’ interpretation of this finding suggests that individuals high in