Testing alternative models of stability and change in adult attachment

测试成人依恋稳定性和变化的替代模型

• 批准号: 0443783
• 负责人: R. Chris Fraley
• 金额: $ 29.36万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0443783&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Testing; alternative; models; stability; change

According to attachment theory, people construct "internal working models"-mental representations of the self and the social world-that play a critical role in guiding their interpersonal behavior and affective experience across time. Unfortunately, we do not have a good understanding of how stable these representations are, nor do we have a consensual understanding of the dynamic processes that promote continuity and change in attachment representations. Some researchers, for example, have suggested that working models are trait-like in the sense that they are enduring features of people-representations that facilitate stability in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across time and context. In contrast, some researchers have argued that working models behave in a contextual manner, with different features of those models being activated under different conditions, ultimately leading to instability in attachment over time. The primary aims of the proposed research are to answer three critical questions of the dynamics of attachment: Are patterns of stability and change in adult attachment more consistent with the predictions of a trait-like model, a contextual model, or some combination of the two? Second, can basic personality traits, such as neuroticism, explain empirical patterns of attachment stability? And, third, how do attachment representations influence-and get influenced by-relational experiences? To accomplish these aims, individuals in dating/marital relationships will be recruited to complete self-report measures of attachment, personality, and interpersonal experiences weekly (Sample 1) or bimonthly (Sample 2) for twelve months. The proposed study will provide the first rigorous investigation into these fundamental theoretical questions. Moreover, because the proposed research addresses a set of issues that are of broad significance in social and personality psychology (e.g., What are the dynamic mechanisms underlying stability and change?), this investigation has the potential to facilitate the development of a generalized framework for understanding the dynamics of stability and change in personality, affective, and social processes more generally.

根据依恋理论，人们构建了“内部工作模型”-自我和社会世界的心理表征-在指导他们的人际行为和情感体验方面发挥着关键作用。不幸的是，我们对这些表征的稳定性没有很好的理解，也没有对促进依恋表征的连续性和变化的动态过程达成共识。例如，一些研究人员认为，工作模型是特质，因为它们是人的持久特征表征，促进了思想、情感和行为在时间和环境中的稳定性。相反，一些研究人员认为，工作模型的行为是以一种情境的方式进行的，这些模型的不同特征在不同的条件下被激活，最终导致依恋随着时间的推移而不稳定。拟议的研究的主要目的是回答三个关键问题的动态附件：模式的稳定性和变化的成人附件更符合预测的一个特质样模型，一个上下文模型，或两者的结合？第二，基本的人格特质，如神经质，能解释依恋稳定性的经验模式吗？第三，依恋表征是如何影响关系体验的？为了实现这些目标，将招募处于约会/婚姻关系中的个人，每周（样本1）或每两个月（样本2）完成一次依恋、个性和人际关系体验的自我报告测量，持续12个月。拟议中的研究将提供对这些基本理论问题的第一次严格调查。此外，由于拟议的研究解决了一系列在社会和人格心理学中具有广泛意义的问题（例如，稳定和变化背后的动力机制是什么？），这项研究有可能促进一个广义框架的发展，以更普遍地理解人格、情感和社会过程中的稳定和变化的动态。