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002 – Does Attachment Theory Apply to Adults?
Attachment theory tells us that we are made to be connected to others. However, a lot of the initial research involved mothers and children. Does it apply to adults as well? In our latest podcast, Rebecca and I talk about this with Dr. Phil Shaver, considered by many to be “the father of adult attachment theory.”
http://www.wefulness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/002-Attachment-and-Adults-featuring-Dr.-Phil-Shaver.mp3
If the player does not show, you can click here to listen: 002 – Attachment and Adults featuring Dr. Phil Shaver
—
Transcript
(Please note: The audio is transcribed “as is,” spoken grammar glitches and all.)
G: Today we are talking with relationship expert Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen and special guest, researcher Dr. Phil Shaver.
G: Hi Becca!
R: Hey there Greg, so nice to talk to you today.
G: In the next few podcasts we’ll be presenting our interview with Dr. Shaver about adult attachment and I’m finding that the concept is quite new to people – at least the adult part. People are often perplexed that it even applies to adults because so much of the original research is about the mother-child bond. Can you talk about those roots?
R: Well yes I can, and that is exactly right. It did start… the research started on attachment with the mother-child bond. Originally John Bowlby, who kind of founded attachment theory, or did create attachment theory, was looking at the infant and caregiver relationship, but he also addressed that attachment lasts across the life-span. He talked about it as a cradle…from the cradle to the grave… that we all have these attachment processes. And so it did start, kind of looking, the research specifically, in developmental psychology, looking at children and care givers. But Dr. Shaver especially kind of put it on the map looking through a social psychology lens at adult attachment.
G: In the segment of our interview that I want to play, Dr. Shaver references the strange situation test. Can you talk about that?
R: Yeah, Mary Ainsworth was a colleague of John Bowlby and started out as a follower of his theory and she took research on attachment, really created a procedure to test attachment, the level of security that people have in relationship. And she looked at, took parents and children and introduced them into a strange situation – thus the name of the research, “The Strange Situation.” And this strange situation was entering them into what was a research room, but looked a lot like a kind of a play room or a waiting room with toys in it. And so she would have the parent and child come in, introduce them to the room, bring in a lab assistant who would be pretending to be just another person in this playroom, to kind of play with the child. And then have the parent leave the room and come back, kind of come and go and see how the child responded. And they were able to predict certain things from…they originally started some of this looking at the attachment in the homes, Mary Ainsworth did, in the field work and then she moved it into the lab through this strange situation procedure – which is really great because we’ve learned so much about attachment styles in this childhood pattern, from the strange situation. The idea is really that under stress, that we need, we have higher needs for support. Like we always needed as a baseline, that we are social creatures and we always need to be in supportive contact with other people. But under stressful situations and new situations or strange situations that are new – are more stressful to us. We don’t know what to expect. And those times are heightened needs for the attachment relationship. So Mary Ainsworth developed this procedure to be able to look at attachment, how people respond in these situations, particularly children, and we’ve been able to put that, overlay that onto adults later and it’s just been really seminal research from [...]
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Attachment theory tells us that we are made to be connected to others. However, a lot of the initial research involved mothers and children. Does it apply to adults as well? In our latest podcast, Rebecca and I talk about this with Dr. Phil Shaver, considered by many to be “the father of adult attachment theory.”
http://www.wefulness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/002-Attachment-and-Adults-featuring-Dr.-Phil-Shaver.mp3
If the player does not show, you can click here to listen: 002 – Attachment and Adults featuring Dr. Phil Shaver
—
Transcript
(Please note: The audio is transcribed “as is,” spoken grammar glitches and all.)
G: Today we are talking with relationship expert Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen and special guest, researcher Dr. Phil Shaver.
G: Hi Becca!
R: Hey there Greg, so nice to talk to you today.
G: In the next few podcasts we’ll be presenting our interview with Dr. Shaver about adult attachment and I’m finding that the concept is quite new to people – at least the adult part. People are often perplexed that it even applies to adults because so much of the original research is about the mother-child bond. Can you talk about those roots?
R: Well yes I can, and that is exactly right. It did start… the research started on attachment with the mother-child bond. Originally John Bowlby, who kind of founded attachment theory, or did create attachment theory, was looking at the infant and caregiver relationship, but he also addressed that attachment lasts across the life-span. He talked about it as a cradle…from the cradle to the grave… that we all have these attachment processes. And so it did start, kind of looking, the research specifically, in developmental psychology, looking at children and care givers. But Dr. Shaver especially kind of put it on the map looking through a social psychology lens at adult attachment.
G: In the segment of our interview that I want to play, Dr. Shaver references the strange situation test. Can you talk about that?
R: Yeah, Mary Ainsworth was a colleague of John Bowlby and started out as a follower of his theory and she took research on attachment, really created a procedure to test attachment, the level of security that people have in relationship. And she looked at, took parents and children and introduced them into a strange situation – thus the name of the research, “The Strange Situation.” And this strange situation was entering them into what was a research room, but looked a lot like a kind of a play room or a waiting room with toys in it. And so she would have the parent and child come in, introduce them to the room, bring in a lab assistant who would be pretending to be just another person in this playroom, to kind of play with the child. And then have the parent leave the room and come back, kind of come and go and see how the child responded. And they were able to predict certain things from…they originally started some of this looking at the attachment in the homes, Mary Ainsworth did, in the field work and then she moved it into the lab through this strange situation procedure – which is really great because we’ve learned so much about attachment styles in this childhood pattern, from the strange situation. The idea is really that under stress, that we need, we have higher needs for support. Like we always needed as a baseline, that we are social creatures and we always need to be in supportive contact with other people. But under stressful situations and new situations or strange situations that are new – are more stressful to us. We don’t know what to expect. And those times are heightened needs for the attachment relationship. So Mary Ainsworth developed this procedure to be able to look at attachment, how people respond in these situations, particularly children, and we’ve been able to put that, overlay that onto adults later and it’s just been really seminal research from [...]