ABSTRACT

Attachment theory emphasizes both the importance of supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, for developing a sense of security, and the adaptive benefits of this sense. In this article, we consider bolstering the sense of attachment security as a means of reducing and overcoming prejudice, discrimination, and racism. We review basic concepts of attachment theory, focusing on what we call the broaden-and-build cycle of attachment security. We review studies showing that the sense of attachment security is associated with reduced prejudice and less discriminatory attitudes and behavior toward people outside one’s own social or racial group. Finally, we propose theoretical ideas and research suggesting that attachment security can protect against the adverse psychological effects of others’ acts of prejudice and discrimination toward oneself. We conclude that, despite large gaps in the research literature, attachment theory is a useful conceptual framework for understanding and combatting prejudice, discrimination, and racism.

摘要

依恋理论强调支持性关系伙伴（从婴儿期开始）对于发展安全感的重要性，以及这种感觉的适应性益处。在本文中，我们认为增强依恋安全感是减少和克服偏见、歧视和种族主义的一种手段。我们回顾了依恋理论的基本概念，重点关注我们所说的依恋安全的扩展和构建周期。我们回顾的研究表明，依恋安全感与减少偏见和减少对自己社会或种族群体以外的人的歧视态度和行为有关。最后，我们提出的理论思想和研究表明，依恋安全可以保护他人免受他人对自己的偏见和歧视行为的不利心理影响。我们得出的结论是，尽管研究文献存在很大差距，但依恋理论是理解和打击偏见、歧视和种族主义的有用概念框架。