Enhancing the “Broaden and Build” Cycle of Attachment Security in Adulthood: From the Laboratory to Relational Contexts and Societal Systems

Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver
Additional contact information
Mario Mikulincer: Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, HaUniversita 8 Street, Herzliya 46150, Israel
Phillip R. Shaver: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8686, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Attachment theory emphasizes both the importance of the availability of caring, supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, for developing a sense of safety and security, and the beneficial effects of this sense of security on psychosocial functioning and physical and mental health. In this article, we briefly review basic concepts of attachment theory, focusing on the core construct of attachment security and present evidence concerning the ways in which this sense can be enhanced in adulthood. Specifically, we review findings from laboratory experiments that have momentarily enhanced the sense of attachment security and examined its effects on emotion regulation, psychological functioning, and prosocial behavior. We then review empirical findings and ideas concerning security enhancement by actual relationship partners, non-human symbolic figures, and societal systems in a wide variety of life domains, such as marital relationships, psychotherapy, education, health and medicine, leadership and management, group interactions, religion, law, and government.

Keywords: attachment security; security priming; close relationships; well-being; adult development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/2054/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/2054/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:2054-:d:334673

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().