Adult Attachment: A Concise Introduction to Theory and Research

by Omri Gillath, Gery C. Karantzas, R. Chris Fraley

Overview

Adult Attachment: A Concise Introduction to Theory and Research is an easy-to-read and highly accessible reference on attachment that deals with many of the key concepts and topics studied within attachment theory. This book is comprised of a series of chapters framed by common questions that are typically asked by novices entering the field of attachment. The content of each chapter focuses on answering this overarching question.

Topics on the development of attachment are covered from different levels of analysis, including species, individual, and relationship levels, working models of attachment, attachment functions and hierarchies, attachment stability and change over time and across situations, relationship contexts, the cognitive underpinnings of attachment and its activation of enhancement via priming, the interplay between the attachment behavioral system and other behavioral systems, the effects of context on attachment, the contribution of physiology/neurology and genetics to attachment, the associations/differences between attachment and temperament, the conceptualization and measurement of attachment, and the association between attachment and psychopathology/therapy.

TEDx talk: The Power of (Secure) Love by Omri Gillath: https://youtu.be/PgIQv-rTGgA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780124200203
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	03/23/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Omri Gillath, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center at the University of Kansas. His work focuses on human pair-bonding and the effects of personality on cognition and behavior. He uses diverse methodologies including neuroimaging, gene mapping, and advanced cognitive techniques to explore the associations between attachment style and cognitive performance, sexual motivation and behavior, mating strategies, and caregiving behavior. He has published extensively on the topic of interpersonal relationships and relationship neuroscience in leading academic journals (e.g., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience), and has given invited lectures at national and international conferences on these topics. Dr. Gillath is an associate editor of Personal Relationships, a member of the editorial board of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Journal of Research in Personality, and a fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychology. Dr. Gillath won the 2012 IARR Gerald R. Miller Award for Early Career Achievement, the 2011 Caryl Rusbult Close Relationships Early Career Award, the Sage 2010 Young Scholar Award, and the J. Michael Young academic advisor award at the University of Kansas.

Gery C. Karantzas is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Deakin University. He is currently the convenor of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Psychology of Relationships Interest Group. He has published numerous studies in the area of close personal relationships with a specific interest in investigating couple and family relationships during transitions and in adult attachment. He received his PhD from La Trobe University in 2008. His research activities have been funded by grants from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Research Medical Council, the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Office of Learning and Teaching, and beyondblue. He is the recipient of numerous university and national awards for his research and teaching into the science of relationships including the 2010 Australian Psychological Society Early Career Teaching Award and the 2011 Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Distinguished Teaching.

R. Chris Fraley is a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD from the University of California, Davis in 1999 in Social-Personality Psychology. In 2007 he received the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of Individual Differences. Fraley's research involves the study of attachment processes in close relationships, personality dynamics and development, and research methods. He is also broadly interested in issues at the interface of social cognition, development, evolution, and psychodynamics.

Table of Contents

1. What is attachment? 2. What Is an Attachment Relationship? 3. How do Individual Differences in Attachment Develop? 4. What are Attachment Working Models? 5. How are Individual Differences in Attachment Measured? 6. How Stable are Attachment Styles in Adulthood? 7. What Can Social Cognition and Priming Tell us About Attachment? 8. What is the Attachment Behavioral System? And, how is it Linked to Other Behavioral Systems? 9. What are the Effects of Context on Attachment? 10. What can Neuroscience, Genetics, and Physiology Tell us About Attachment? 11. What are the Implications of Attachment Processes for Psychopathology and Therapy?

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

As a highly accessible reference on attachment theory that poses commonly asked questions from novices in the field, this book provides and addresses questions using different types and levels of analysis, including species, individual, and relationship levels, working models of attachment, attachment functions and hierarchies, and more

Editorial Reviews

"A wonderfully enlightening and concise introduction to theory and research on adult attachment. Gillath, Karantzas, and Fraley have done a superb job synthesizing the voluminous literature into an informative, engaging, and eminently accessible review." —Harry T. Reis, Ph.D., University of Rochester

"This very interesting, highly engaging book asks and then systematically answers the most important questions that many people have about attachment and close relationships, including their own. It provides a wonderful introduction to this important and vibrant theory and body of scientific findings. It should be on the shelf of anyone who is interested in the science of relationships." —Jeffry A. Simpson, Ph.D., University of Minnesota

"Written in an open and engaging style, this is an authoritative guide to everything you wanted to know about attachment but were too overwhelmed to ask. It will be the 'go to' primer for everything attachment-related for many years to come…the authors are to be congratulated on an outstanding achievement." —Julie Fitness, Ph.D., Macquarie University

From the Publisher