overview

1. Today I will be presenting Attachment, Compassion and Altruism. A talked based on research that Mario Mikulincer, Phil, Omri Gillath, and I have been working on over the past year.Today I will be presenting Attachment, Compassion and Altruism. A talked based on research that Mario Mikulincer, Phil, Omri Gillath, and I have been working on over the past year.

3. Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory

4. Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory Bowlby’s theory was first tested on infants and their mothers by Mary Ainsworth, an American psychologist, and her colleagues (whose major book appeared in 1978)

5. Harlow’s monkeys and Ainsworth’s “strange situation”

6. The theorysimplified

8. Socially induced patterns of infant attachment (Ainsworth) Secure: Confident that parent is available and responsive. Exploration-oriented, emotionally positive. Soothes easily. Shows early empathy and ability to talk about emotions. (Documented origin: sensitive, empathic parental caregiving; coherent parental discussion of emotions) Anxious: Cries a lot, is anxious, angry. Lacks confidence that parent is accessible and responsive. Inhibited exploration. Attachment behavior is too readily activated. (Documented origin: parental anxiety and uncertainty, parental self-centeredness, misperception of the child’s needs and signals, intrusiveness, inconsistency) Avoidant: Cries little during separation and actively avoids parent upon reunion. Engages in rigid, displaced exploratory activity, “turning to the neutral world of things without the true interest of exploration.” (Documented origin: parental rejection, lack of warmth, discomfort with negative emotions, vulnerability, and physical contact)

10. 8. For instance a person which positioned low on anxiety and high on avoidance is considered avoidant. 8. For instance a person which positioned low on anxiety and high on avoidance is considered avoidant.

11. In my lab, we measure adult attachment patterns with two agree-disagree scales

12. Diverse sample of research findings: The adult avoidant pattern

15. Newer studies, Part 1: Attachment-system activation in adults

16. The attachment system can be experimentally activated in adults Subliminal (very fast) priming with a threat word (e.g., failure, illness, death) leads to greater accessibility of attachment-related concepts – e.g., faster responses to attachment-related words (love, hug, secure, close) in a lexical decision task (Mikulincer et al., JPSP, 2000) Secure people activate positive but not negative attachment concepts; anxious people activate both positive and negative concepts; avoidant people activate both, but activate the negative ones only after a “cognitive load” has been added Avoidance seems to require effortful suppression

17. More on attachment-system activation (Mikulincer, Gillath, & Shaver, JPSP, 2002) Subliminal priming with a threat word (e.g., failure, separation) increases accessibility of attachment figures’ names (including “God” or “Jesus” for some people), but not names of other familiar people Attachment anxiety correlates with faster access to attachment figures’ names regardless of threat Avoidant attachment correlates with slower access to attachment figures’ names (suppression, inhibition) when the threat word is “separation,” but not “failure” (so the suppression seems to be attachment-specific, not achievement-related)

18. Time taken to indicate that letter strings are words (names)

19. Newer studies, Part 2: Attachment, compassion, and caregiving Kunce and I (1994) developed a questionnaire to measure caregiving orientations in romantic relationships and found that anxious individuals are more intrusive, less sensitive caregivers; avoidant individuals are less inclined to provide care Collins and Feeney have shown the same thing in several laboratory studies of couples This made us wonder whether compassion and generous caregiving could be enhanced by increasing a person’s sense of security (as Bowlby and Ainsworth showed exploration can be)

20. Part 2A: Enhanced security reduces inter-group hostility (Mikulincer & Shaver, JPSP, 2001) Theory: Having a sense of attachment security allows people to open themselves to unfamiliar others and consider others’ worldviews This is supported by child-development research linking secure attachment with exploration, curiosity, and reduced fear of strangers Because of the plasticity of the attachment system (demonstrated in previous developmental and clinical studies), we thought security priming might cause even anxious and avoidant people to become more tolerant

22. Results In all 5 experiments, security primes, whether conscious or unconscious, eliminated the difference between in-group and out-group tolerance Similar effects did not occur for positive emotion primes (e.g., “success,” “happy”) unrelated to love or attachment Anxious attachment was consistently related to perceiving out-group members as threatening Security priming effects were not mediated (i.e., not explained) by positive mood Security priming did not interact with attachment style, suggesting that everyone’s sense of security can be enhanced, regardless of initial security or insecurity, with equally beneficial effects on tolerance

23. Attachment theory suggests that a secure person would be less distressed by threats of various kinds and more able to activate behavioral systems other than attachment  e.g., caregiving (or helping others who are vulnerable or distressed) Sroufe has conducted extensive research revealing a link between secure attachment in infancy and empathic responding in early childhood Recent studies of adult attachment, using the ECR to measure the two major dimensions of insecure attachment – anxiety and avoidance – have also revealed a link between dispositional and situationally induced attachment security, and empathic, generous responding to others. Attachment theory suggests that a secure person would be less distressed by threats of various kinds and more able to activate behavioral systems other than attachment e.g., caregiving (or helping others who are vulnerable or distressed) Sroufe has conducted extensive research revealing a link between secure attachment in infancy and empathic responding in early childhood Recent studies of adult attachment, using the ECR to measure the two major dimensions of insecure attachment – anxiety and avoidance – have also revealed a link between dispositional and situationally induced attachment security, and empathic, generous responding to others.

24. These questionnaires were administered to three samples across the world; the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands.These questionnaires were administered to three samples across the world; the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands.

26. Experimentally increased security and compassionate behavior (JPSP, 2005) We decided to study compassion experimentally In one experiment, security was increased by unconscious (subliminal) priming with names of supportive attachment figures In a second experiment, security was increased by conscious priming (asking people to think about specific examples of being comforted, taken care of) In both studies people were asked to help a suffering woman by taking her place in a stressful lab situation (in reality, she was an actress appearing via videotape, but participants didn’t know this) Can these phenomena be studied experimentally, in the laboratory? A preliminary study conducted in Israel and currently being run here. Can these phenomena be studied experimentally, in the laboratory? A preliminary study conducted in Israel and currently being run here.

28. No significant interaction effectsNo significant interaction effects

30. Summary: Compassion experiments The results were the same in both studies (using conscious and unconscious priming), and were highly similar in Israel and the U.S. Avoidant people were less compassionate and less willing to help Anxious people were more distressed, but this didn’t increase their compassion or altruism The beneficial effects of enhanced security appeared without regard for anxiety or avoidance; that is, the effects again were general Conclusion: Even dispositionally insecure people become more compassionate and altruistic when they feel more secure

31. Three Additional Pairs of Compassion Studies One pair (US and Israeli) showed that the effects I’ve just described couldn’t be explained by opportunity to elevate one’s own mood (a manipulated variable) or by self-esteem and neuroticism (two self-report variables). A second pair of studies showed that the effects couldn’t be explained by “empathic joy,” self-esteem, or neuroticism. A third, that the effects couldn’t be explained by relatedness to the suffering person (or by self-esteem and neuroticism). In two of the three sets of studies, the egoistic alternative explanations applied only to avoidant participants.

35. Part 3: Security and self-transcendent values We also explored whether security enhancement might strengthen two self-transcendent values: benevolence (being loving and kind toward people with whom one has frequent personal contact) and universalism (understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection of all people) It did . . .

36. No significant interaction effectsNo significant interaction effects

37. Clinical possibilities: PTSD symptom reduction

38. We (Mikulincer, Shaver, & Horesh, in press) examined associations between attachment security and both explicit and implicit responses to trauma (terrorism in Israel) Explicit responses were assessed with a self-report measure of post-traumatic symptoms Implicit responses were indicated by cognitive accessibility of trauma-related concepts (words) in a Stroop task We examined the effects of both dispositional and experimentally manipulated (subliminally induced) security on the Stroop task

39. Method At the beginning of the semester, 120 Israeli students completed the ECR (in Hebrew) A month later, they completed a PTSD Inventory focused on effects of Palestinian bombings Based on the total PTSD symptom score, two groups of students were selected to participate in a third session One group – the PTSD group (N = 30) – scored above the 75th percentile on symptoms The other group – the non-PTSD group (N =30) – scored below the 25th percentile on symptoms

40. 2 to 3 weeks later, the students were invited to the lab, where they performed a Stroop color-naming task including 10 terror-related words, 10 negatively valenced words unrelated to terror, and 10 neutral words car bomb (say “green”) Hamas (say “red”) They completed each trial while being subliminally primed with an attachment-security word (“being loved”), a positively valenced word not related to attachment (“success”), or a neutral word (“hat”)

41. Results Anxious students exhibited more post-traumatic thought intrusions and hyper-arousal symptoms Avoidant students exhibited more defensive suppression of traumatic thoughts Students in the PTSD group had longer color-naming latencies for terror words (implying greater mental accessibility or activation of terror-related thoughts) But this effect was qualified by a significant interaction with experimentally primed security …

43. Attachment Security and Buddhist Equanimity There are striking similarities between the “secure mind” prized by attachment researchers and the “balanced, wholesome mind” advocated by Buddhist psychology. This seems odd, given the origins of the two psychologies (primate ethology and psychoanalysis, in one case; Indian philosophy and religion, in the other). I want to present some preliminary “loose” ideas about this similarity, for discussion.

44. I had an opportunity to discuss this with HH the Dalai Lama in October of 2004

45. Loose idea # 1: The Root of Suffering

46. “Repressing” and “Grasping” versus Maintaining Balance and Equanimity

48. A common Buddhist prayer is: “I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.” HH the Dalai Lama: “Which object of refuge will never deceive us? There are three: the rare and supreme Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha…. The Buddha is the protector and is like a doctor; the precious dharma is like the medicine; and the spiritual sangha is like a nurse, taking care of us like a good friend” (The Heart of Compassion, 2002, pp. 17-22). There are very similar notions in attachment theory, including the central notion that available, sensitive attachment figures provide a “safe haven” (a refuge, a “nurse”) and a “secure base.” Loose idea # 3: Taking refuge in the “triple gem”

49. Loose idea #4: Our experiments parallel the Buddhist cultivation of compassion

50. Conclusions and Questions Attachment theory is being creatively researched, and its implications for personal development and social harmony are empirically supported. Attachment theory and Buddhist psychology share important insights (which isn’t to say they are identical). It may be worthwhile to search the attachment literature for clues about differences between people who are secure, anxious, or avoidant and see if this maps onto the kinds of success or difficulty they have with meditation. This can be studied with a combination of self-report questionnaires, interviews, behavioral observations, and brain-imaging, as is being done with attachment. Attachment theory helps to explain why insecure people are less compassionate and kind than secure people: “Caregiving,” an innate behavioral system, is undermined by attachment insecurity. Can meditation “cure” insecure attachment or weaken some of the defensive strategies associated with it? How ‘social’ is meditation training, and does this matter? How does it work in the brain? We are undertaking the Shamatha Project to find out.

51. Today I will be presenting Attachment, Compassion and Altruism. A talked based on research that Mario Mikulincer, Phil, Omri Gillath, and I have been working on over the past year.Today I will be presenting Attachment, Compassion and Altruism. A talked based on research that Mario Mikulincer, Phil, Omri Gillath, and I have been working on over the past year.

52. Clinical considerations, 1: Are security effects only momentary? In a recent preliminary study we assessed extended effects of repeated subliminal exposure to security words Participants: 30 UC Davis students, aged 18-23 Completed a standard measure of positive mood (the PANAS positive affect scale) 3 times: once at the beginning of the experiment, a second time 3 weeks later (at the end of a repeated-priming procedure), and a third time, 1 week after the experiment ended The priming occurred every other morning (M, W, F) over a 3-week period, with the subliminal stimuli appearing in the midst of cognitive tasks shown on a computer screen; during the 4th week, no priming occurred

53. Result: Mood change was sustained for a week without further priming