Attachment dimensions and sexual motives

Little research has examined the relation between the attachment behavioral system and the sexual behavioral system, although these two systems, along with the caregiving system, are theorized to constitute romantic love ( Fraley & Shaver, 2000 ; Hazan & Shaver, 1987 ). College students (N = 400) completed measures of two dimensions of attachment style, anxiety and avoidance, and motives for having sex. Anxiety was predicted to be associated with having sex to reduce insecurity and foster intense intimacy. Avoidance was predicted to correlate inversely with having sex to foster intimacy and positively with nonromantic goals, such as increasing one's status and prestige among peers. The results supported both sets of predictions. People high on the attachment anxiety dimension reported having sex to reduce insecurity and establish intense closeness; people high on the attachment avoidance dimension reported having sex to impress their peer group, especially if they were having casual, uncommitted sex. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Avoidant attachment and hemispheric lateralisation of the processing of attachment‐ and emotion‐related words

Studies of adult attachment indicate that intimacy avoidance is associated with general negative emotionality and withdrawal from potentially positive aspects of social relations. Such emotional negativity and withdrawal motivation have been connected in psychophysiological studies with the right frontal lobe of the brain, whereas the left frontal lobe specialises in emotional positivity and approach behaviour. In the present study we used a divided visual field task to investigate hemispheric asymmetries in making decisions about the positivity or negativity of attachment‐ and emotion‐related words, as well as various kinds of control words. We found that more avoidant individuals made more errors when judging positive attachment‐related words presented to the right hemisphere. The findings are discussed in terms of possible effects of attachment history on the way attachment‐related information is processed in the brain.     

Promises as invitations to trust

Philosophical Studies - It is now popular to think that promissory obligation is grounded in an invitation to trust. I object that there are important differences between invitations and promises;...