Attachment-anxiety and identification with groups: Strategic shifts in self-definition in response to relationship threat
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Authors
Colleges, School and Institutes
Abstract
We propose a model documenting the relationship between interpersonal attachment style and identification with groups. We hypothesized that following threat to a romantic interpersonal relationship higher attachment anxiety would be associated with lowered tendencies to identify with groups. In two Studies using varied social groups we observed support for this hypothesis. In Experiment 1 we found that participants higher in attachment anxiety identified less with a salient ingroup after imagining a distressing argument with their romantic partner. In Experiment 2 we replicated these findings using an implicit measure of social identification and additionally observed a moderating role for attachment avoidance. We discuss the implications of these findings for theoretical models of interpersonal attachment and social identification. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Details
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 115-122 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |
Volume | 45 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2009 |
Keywords
- Attachment, Interpersonal relations, Social identification