Anxiety and Avoidance in Close Relationships Are Associated With Responses to Negative and Positive Stimuli

Humans tend to assign valence to objects, people, and events in the environment, but there are individual differences in the evaluation of the affective nature of these environmental stimuli. This exploratory study investigated how individual differences in anxiety and avoidance in close relationships are associated with the emotional appraisal of valenced and neutral stimuli. Participants evaluated negative, neutral, and positive stimuli for emotional valence in an image classification task. There was a positivity offset across all participants, in that neutral stimuli were evaluated as more positive than negative. Individuals higher on the Experiences in Close Relationships-Anxiety subscale showed a negativity bias in reaction times and ratings: they had faster response times to negative than to positive stimuli and had a greater tendency to evaluate positive stimuli as "negative." Individuals higher on the Experiences in Close Relationships-Avoidance subscale gave more positive ratings of negative stimuli and more negative ratings of positive stimuli, which may suggest a general blunted response to emotional stimuli. Findings are discussed in the context of the literature on individual differences and emotional appraisal of stimuli.

The psychobiological consequences of child separation at the border: lessons from research on attachment and emotion regulation

In the spring of 2018, the Attorney General of the United States issued a memorandum declaring a "zero tolerance policy" under which all adults entering the United States illegally would be criminally prosecuted, and, if traveling with minor children, forcibly separated from their children. Although the government was ordered to reunite the children with their parents it is still unclear how many children have been or remain separated. Given the high risk of permanent harm to a vulnerable population, and the fact that this risk may continue into the near future, we present a review of what nearly eight decades of scholarly research has taught us about the damaging impact of deprivation and separation from parents. The article briefly reviews the origins of attachment theory as well as empirical studies that examine the psychobiological impact on children who experienced parental deprivation or separation. The paper concludes with recommendations, for future research.

Japanese mothers' prebirth Adult Attachment Interview predicts their infants' response to the Strange Situation Procedure: The strange situation in Japan revisited three decades later

The current study investigated the intergenerational transmission of attachment in Sapporo, Japan, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). This is the first SSP study in Sapporo in three decades, after a study in the mid-1980s reported controversial results. The SSP distributions found in the current study, however, were similar to those reported in the earlier Sapporo study, including its controversial finding that ambivalent attachment was predominant in insecure infants. The current study used the AAI and the SSP to study the intergenerational transmission of attachment in Japan and found a strong categorical match consistent with those reported elsewhere in the world. A proportion of infants who were judged disorganized as the first report in this Japanese sample was also found to be similar to the reported global norm. Disorganized attachment in Japanese infants was strongly predicted by the mother's unresolved state of mind as was found across normative samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Japanese children's amae and mothers' attachment status as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview

This study explored whether Japanese mothers' attachment status, as judged by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), would affect the way they perceive their child's amae. Amae, an indigenous Japanese concept of relatedness, has troubled, fascinated, and even mystified scholars across disciplines. In particular, amae has been sometimes misconstrued as the insecure-ambivalent pattern of attachment due to their apparent behavioral similarities. In an attempt to explore an empirical link between attachment and amae, Japanese mothers' (N = 47) views on their six-year-olds' amae were examined based on a brief amae questionnaire, given following the standard AAI. Mothers generally reported their child's amae similarly for questions of frequency (e.g., how often your child exhibits amae behaviors) or situations (e.g., in what circumstances your child most often engages in amae). However, a difference emerged when mothers' free descriptions of their child's amae were examined for the content quality, categorized, and analyzed against their secure/insecure attachment statuses. Secure mothers depicted their child's amae as being more affective, thus more welcoming, whereas insecure mothers depicted their child's typical amae as being more instrumental or manipulative, thus perhaps less welcoming. Japanese mothers' current states of mind with respect to attachment do appear to affect the way they perceive their child's typical amae. Future research on attachment and amae is discussed.

Electroencephalographic responses to photographs: a case study of three women with distinct adult attachment interview classifications

This preliminary study explored whether neurophysiological responses to visual stimuli, including attachment-related pictures, differed based on attachment status. Along with self-reported valence ratings and reaction times, recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to a total of 100 images, 25 each of Positive, Negative, Neutral, and Personal (each participant's parents and child), were analyzed within and among three mothers with three attachment statuses (Dismissing, Preoccupied, and Secure), as judged by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). All three mothers gave their highest pleasantness ratings for Personal photographs. However, differences emerged when cross-region Alpha2 activation patterns in response to each picture type were compared amongst attachment categories. Alpha2 activation recorded during viewing of the participants' children's photographs was similar to viewing Negative pictures for mothers with insecure (Dismissing and Preoccupied) status; whereas the Alpha2 activation of the mother with Secure status towards photographs of her child was similar to Positive pictures. Different patterns of hemispheric asymmetry in Beta1 frequency when processing different picture types were also found. The mother with Dismissing status showed significantly stronger left-hemisphere Beta1 activation across all image types. The Preoccupied mother showed significantly stronger right-hemisphere Beta1 activation for all but the Neutral images, during which activation did not differ between the two hemispheres. The mother with Secure status showed significantly stronger Beta1 activation in the left hemisphere for all but parental Personal photos, during which activation did not differ between the two hemispheres. Implications from the current findings and future research possibilities are discussed.