SBE/RCUK: Relationship Strategies and the Stability of Interpersonal Security Over Time

与亲密的人建立牢固的关系对心理和身体健康都很重要。然而，人们在与他人建立安全感的纽带方面的意愿和能力各不相同。在亲密关系中获得更大安全感的人(“依恋安全感”)会有更好的关系结果，在追求个人目标时更有信心，更有能力应对挑战。虽然依恋不安全感通常是一种慢性疾病，但它可以而且确实会随着新的经历而改变。这个项目利用浪漫关系中的互动，唤起在调节安全感方面具有强大作用的经历。这项研究介绍了人际关系策略，如加强信任或自信的沟通策略，以及有助于积极重新解释互动的感知练习，这些策略可能会调节依恋安全。因此，这项工作将阐明依恋研究和关系科学中的基本问题，例如，随着时间的推移，什么是导致依恋安全感增加的人际过程？具体地说，这项研究将测试从理论上衍生的路径，通过这些路径可以实现依恋过程的短期和长期变化。这项研究中考察的关系策略针对每种类型的不安全感，并被设计成纳入典型的夫妻互动和日常事件中。这些策略也可以被经历过负面人际体验的个人在非浪漫的环境中采用。本项目的主要目标是确定随着时间的推移，通过这些机制可以减少不安全的关系动态，增强依恋安全感。具体地说，这项研究将测试交流策略是否在短期内调节了这些过程；以及心理模型(对自我和他人的信念)的变化是否会导致依恋安全感的长期变化。在一系列随机实验中，夫妻被分配了针对焦虑倾向或回避倾向的策略。第一个目标将测试沟通策略在缓解焦虑与回避方面所起的中介作用。这种交流可能会减少直接的关系紧张，但可能不足以导致依恋安全的持久变化。因此，第二个目标涉及检查互动和感知，这些互动和感知可以增加焦虑的个人的信心，增加回避的个人的信任。将在较长时间内审查这些加强安全战略的效果，并结合缓解不安全的通信。夫妻交流模式和信念的这些相对较小的变化预计将波及到总体依恋安全方面的更深刻变化，这有利于关系并促进对社会福祉至关重要的有意义的活动。这项建议是根据SBE-RCUK牵头代理协议授予的。

Strong relationships with close others are important for psychological and physical well-being. However, people differ in how willing and able they are to forge bonds in which they feel secure with others. People who achieve greater security in their close relationships ("attachment security") have better relationship outcomes, are more confident in pursuing personal goals and are better able to handle challenges. Although attachment insecurity is often a chronic condition, it can and does change with new experiences. This project capitalizes on interactions in romantic relationships, which evoke experiences that have powerful effects in regulating a sense of security. This research introduces relationship strategies, such as communication strategies that strengthen trust or confidence and perception exercises that aid in positive reinterpretations of interactions, that could regulate attachment security. This work will therefore shed light on fundamental questions in attachment research and relationship science, such as what are the interpersonal processes that lead to increased attachment security over time? Specifically, the research will test theoretically-derived pathways through which short- and long-term changes in attachment processes could be achieved. The relationship strategies examined in this research target each type of insecurity and are designed to be incorporated in typical couple interactions and daily events. These strategies may also be adopted in non-romantic settings by individuals who have endured negative interpersonal experiences.The primary goal of this project is to identify mechanisms through which insecure relational dynamics may be reduced, and attachment security enhanced, over time. Specifically, the research will test whether communication strategies mediate these processes in the short-term; and, whether changes in mental models (beliefs about the self and others) lead to longer-term shifts in attachment security. In a series of randomized experiments, couples are assigned to strategies to target anxious tendencies or avoidant tendencies. The first aim will test the mediating role that communication strategies play in mitigating anxiety versus avoidance. Such communication may reduce immediate relational tension but may not be sufficient to cause enduring changes in attachment security. The second aim, therefore, involves examining interactions and perceptions that can increase confidence among anxious individuals and increase trust among avoidant individuals. The effect of these security-enhancing strategies, combined with communication that mitigates insecurity, will be examined over an extended time. These relatively minor changes in couples' communication patterns and beliefs are expected to ripple into more profound changes in general attachment security, which benefits relationships and promotes meaningful activities that are fundamental to societal well-being. This proposal is awarded under the SBE-RCUK Lead Agency Agreement.