Abstract

Insecure attachment has been associated with relatively more negative outcomes in mainstream attachment literature, yet several empirical studies show almost half of the populations globally are insecurely attached. Moreover, although attachment security is the universal norm, attachment anxiety and avoidance exhibit significant cultural variation. To explore how this variation can offer certain advantages to people with insecure attachment tendencies, we tested the novel idea that different insecure attachment behaviors can be differentially compatible with varying cultural senses of self (i.e. independent vs. interdependent self-construal) in an experimental setting. We manipulated cultural self-construal by exposing the participants (N = 164) to either an independence or an interdependence prime and asked them to evaluate vignettes depicting typical anxious and avoidant behaviors. The results showed that insecure attachment behaviors were evaluated as more favorable when they were compatible with one’s own attachment tendency. Importantly, this trend was moderated by the cultural self-construal: Participants evaluated even those insecure attachment behaviors that were inconsistent with their own tendencies more favorably when these behaviors were compatible with the cultural self-construal that was experimentally induced. The findings are discussed in light of cultural implications.

摘要

在主流依恋文献中，不安全依恋与相对更多的负面结果相关，但一些实证研究表明，全球近一半的人口存在不安全依恋。此外，虽然依恋安全是普遍规范，但依恋焦虑和回避表现出显着的文化差异。为了探索这种变化如何为具有不安全依恋倾向的人提供某些优势，我们在实验环境中测试了不同的不安全依恋行为可以与不同的文化自我意识（即独立与相互依赖的自我解释）差异兼容的新想法. 我们通过暴露参与者（N = 164) 到独立或相互依赖的素数，并要求他们评估描述典型焦虑和回避行为的小插曲。结果表明，当不安全的依恋行为与自己的依恋倾向相适应时，它们被评价为更有利。重要的是，这种趋势受到文化自我建构的缓和：当这些行为与实验诱导的文化自我建构相容时，参与者甚至更积极地评估那些与他们自己的倾向不一致的不安全依恋行为。研究结果将根据文化影响进行讨论。