Social Psychology: attachment styles - Assignment Example

Social Psychology: Attachment Styles A person’s attachment style affects everything from their selection of partner to how well their relationship will grow even how it will end. The recognition of a person’s attachment style can help in understanding their strength’s and vulnerabilities in relationships. The pattern of a person’s attachment is established in early childhood attachments and continues to influence latter relationships into adulthood.This model of attachment influences our reactions to needs and the extent that we would go to meet them.

A person with a secure attachment style is often confident and self-possessed and has the ability to interact with others easily. They easily meet their own needs and the needs of the person. However, a person with an anxious or avoidant attachment pattern, and happens to be in a relationship with a person with the same pattern, he or she will have made a relationship blunder as they will find it hard to be happy in that relationship. For example, the person with a working model of anxious/preoccupied attachment may feel that to get close and therefore have their needs met by someone, they need to be with their partners all the time and get reassurance.

Thus to support this context of reality, they choose someone who is isolated and hard to connect with. While the person with a working model of dismissive/avoidant attachment, tends to be distant, because their perception of reality in this context is that, the way to get their needs met is for them to act like they don’t have any. Thus, they find themselves choosing someone who is possessive or overtly demanding of attention.Consequently, everyone finds partners that confirm their models. In other words the predominant pattern of a person’s relationship is just a duplicate of a similar pattern that the person grew up with.

Secure AttachmentAdults with secure attachment style tend to be more satisfied in their relationships. Children with secure attachment see their parents as a strong source of security from which they can venture out and independently explore their lives. A secure adult exhibits a similar relationship with their spouses or romantic partner. They exude security and feel connected and allow themselves and their partners’ freedom to move.Secure adult develop an honest relationship, open and equal, with both people feeling independent, yet loving to each other.

They offer support in case one of them feels distressed, seeking the other partner for comfort when they themselves feel troubled. They never tend to cultivate an illusion of connection that provides a false sense of safety (Worden 67).Anxious Preoccupied Attachment In this attachment style, couples tend to be desperate to form a fantasy bond (an illusion of false sense of safety).The feelings of emotional hunger, take on the feelings of love and trust towards their partners. They do not feel complete without their partner’s presence.

Often push their partners away by clinging unnecessarily to them even though they might be seeking a sense of safety and security. Often feeling desperate and insecure, when unsure of their partners feelings, often they become clingy, demanding or possessive towards their partners. They may also interpret independent actions of their partners as affirmation of their fears.Dismissive Avoidant AttachmentHave the tendency to distance themselves emotionally from their partners. They may seem more focused on themselves and may concentrate on their comforts so much.

They may seek isolation, and take on the role of parenting alone. They tend to live more inward lives, often denying the importance of loved ones and detaching easily from them (Worden 69).Fearful Avoidant AttachmentA person with this attachment style is said to in an ambivalent state, in which they are afraid of both too close to or too distant from others. Though they may want to keep their feelings at bay, they are unable to; thus, they can’t just avoid their anxiety neither run away from their feelings.

This makes them overwhelmed with by their reactions and often experience emotional storms. Their moods are unpredictable and mixed up. They may want and desire relationships but are often also afraid to get too close. As a result they lack an organized strategy for their needs to be met by others. Work CitedWorden, J W. Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner. New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co, 2009. Internet resource.