Attachment theory and psychology of religion research explores the ways that a belief in God can fulfill the criteria of an attachment figure and examines how individual differences in attachment lead to correspondence or compensation pathways.
Attachment theory began with evolutionary psychologist John Bowlby in 1969. Attachment theory was initially grounded in the observation that human beings appear to be born with an innate psychobiological system (the "attachment behavioral system") that motivates them to seek proximity to significant others (attachment figures). [1] This revolutionary theory has found application in topics such as friendships, romantic relationships, coping with stress, loneliness and grief. [2]
Bowlby’s theory proposes that humans and other primates maintain proximity between individuals and their attachment figures through the evolutionary processes of natural selection and cybernetics. In cybernetics, the system monitors proximity to the primary caregiver, friends, [3] pets, [4] romantic partners and compares it to the desired level of proximity. If the attachment figure is regarded as unavailable or not near enough, attachment behaviors are activated and deactivated when the attachment figure becomes sufficient. [2]
On the "flip side" of attachment is the exploration system. When the exploration system is activated, the attachment system is deactivated. While the attachment system keeps the primary caregiver, adult romantic partner, pets or friends in close proximity, the exploration system allows for acquiring and practicing new skills while exploring the environment. [1] These two functions are crucial in defining and distinguishing attachment relationships from other types of interpersonal relationships. Insecurely attached individuals either defensively minimize closeness seeking behaviors or maximize behaviors to become closer to attachment figure. [1] These two behaviors can be conceptualized as avoidant attachment (the extent to which a person distrusts attachment figure and strives to maintain behavioral independence and emotional distance) and anxious attachment (the degree to which a person worries that an attachment figure will not be available partly because the anxiously attached person doubts his or her own lovability and value). [1]
Psychoanalysis has a long history of conceptualizing religious belief in terms of relationship between the self and others. [2] A religious believer's perception that they have a relationship with a deity or God leaves open the question of whether such a relationship is an attachment relation. It is easy to draw analogies between beliefs about God and mental models of attachment figures, but it is a difficult distinction to make that God "really" can be an attachment figure. [2] In addition, research has shown that adult attachments and attachment to a belief in God are fundamentally distinct phenomenon, for instance Simon and Low (2003). [5] Kirkpatrick suggests that for many people in many religions, the attachment system is fundamentally involved in their thinking, beliefs, and reasoning about their idea of a God and their relationship to that belief. According to this theory our knowledge of how attachment processes work in non-religious relationships should prove useful in understanding the ways in which people understand belief in God and interact with that belief. [2]
One biological function of the attachment system, according to Bowlby, [6] is to maintain proximity between a person and an attachment figure. Religions provide many ways that believers can maintain closeness to their idea of God. Most theistic traditions describe their theory of God as being omnipresent, that is, is all places at all times, and while this is a key aspect of religion that creates closeness to their theory of God, it is not the only way. Virtually all religions have a place or building in which believers come to worship and be closer to their deity or God. Within these places of worship, as well as outside of them, there is an array of idols and symbols; such as artwork, jewelry, and images of crosses that serve to remind believers of their God's closeness. [7] Granqvist and Kirkpatrick suggest that prayer is the most important way that believers maintain proximity to their idea of God. [7]
Another function of the attachment system, according to Bowlby, [6] is the attachment figure serving as a haven of safety in times of danger or threat. Bowlby [6] also described three situations that activate the attachment behaviors: (1) frightening or alarming environmental events; (2) illness, injury or fatigue; and (3) separation or threat of separation from attachment figure. [7]
A "secure base" provides security for exploration in one's environment. [7] By most definitions God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Bowlby [6] described a secure base and its psychological effects as this, "When an individual is confident that an attachment figure will be available to him whenever he desires it, that person will be much less prone to either intense or chronic fear than will an individual who for any reason has no such confidence." It is easy to see how a belief in God would be the most secure of secure bases. [7]
In religious scripture God is often described as by one's side, one's rock and fortress, one's strength, and many other terms that reflect an attachment relationship. Research done by Myers (1992), as mentioned by Granqvist and Kirkpatrick, [7] on the psychological outcomes associated with "attachment to God" (such as religious faith giving believers a sense of optimism and hope for the future) suggest that at least some forms of religiousness are associated with the kind of confident, self-assured approach to life that a secure base is thought to provide.
Ainsworth (1985), as mentioned by Granqvist and Kirkpatrick, [7] outlines the fourth and fifth defining criteria of attachment as concern responses to separation from, or loss of, the attachment figure per se: The threat of separation causes anxiety in the attached person, and loss of the attachment figure causes grief. Because of their theory of God's perceived omnipresence, it is difficult to determine whether their God meets these criteria. Believers do not lose a relationship with God as a human relationship. There are instances in religious life when believers are unable to experience their God as they did at some point in their life. It is important to note that in most Christian belief systems, separation from their God is the very essence of hell. [7]
Bowlby [6] further described an "attachment relationship" as a weaker, less competent individual having another individual that he or she perceives as stronger and wiser, but this is now known to be wrong, as research has identified that adult attachments include friendships, romantic relationships and even pets [8] in which the reciprocal partner, be it human or non-human, is not necessarily perceived as stronger or wiser.
Individual differences in attachment security often affect the output of the attachment system in human relationships. In the same way, they often modify the effects of attachment processes in the context of believers' perceived relationships with their theory of God. [1] Two general hypotheses have been suggested and are seen as describing two distinct developmental pathways in religion—the compensation hypothesis and the correspondence hypothesis. [7]
The compensation pathway is related to the regulation of distress following experiences with insensitive caregivers. This situation describes a negative answer to the question of whether an attachment figure is sufficiently near, attentive, responsive, and approving. [1] According to the attachment theory this situation activates attachment behaviors to restore an adequate degree of proximity, but under certain condition the individual may anticipate that their efforts are unlikely to be successful. Bowlby described what is likely to happen if such a case occurs, "Whenever the natural object of attachment behavior is unavailable, the behavior can become directed towards some substitute object. Even though it is inanimate, such an object frequently appears capable of filling the role of an important, though subsidiary, attachment 'figure.' Like the principal attachment figure, the inanimate substitute is sought especially when a child is tired, ill or distressed". [6] : 313
Granqvist and others [1] suggest that people should also be able to turn to their belief in God as a substitute attachment-like figure under such conditions. The compensation pathway's focus is on the degree to which experiences with insensitive caregivers and/or attachment insecurities are associated with use of an idea of God and religion to regulate attachment-related distress.
Studies on attachment and religion have been ambiguous with no clear findings. According to Hall, Fukujima and Delaney after an independent review of literature: "On the surface, it appears that the empirical literature to date presents a rather inconsistent picture." [9] The same authors in 2010 found that the compensation model was not supported, and insecure individuals high in parental insensitivity were not more religious. [9]
Hagekull and Granqvist in 2001 found that childhood insecure attachment to a mother were strongly related to holding positive beliefs about astrology, the occult, parapsychology and UFOs in a Swedish sample. [10] Since these New Age beliefs, such as parapsychology or astrology are unrelated to a personal God, these results argue against the model that insecure individuals adopt concepts involving a belief in a personal loving God to compensate for inadequate childhood relationships.
Granqvist and Kirkpatrick [11] found that people who had sudden conversions to religion not only outscored non-converts in parental insensitivity but also outscored individuals who had experienced a more gradual increase in religiousness, however, the same authors have also found that people who suddenly de-converted from a religion, such as agnostics and atheists also scored higher in childhood insecure attachments to a mother or father. [12] Similarly to insecure parental attachment, insecure romantic attachment predicts sudden religious conversions and de-conversions. [1] ---
Bowlby [6] suggests attachment patterns continue across time partly because the way a person sees themselves and others (internal working model) guides behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses in social interactions over the life span. The correspondence hypothesis suggests individual differences in religious beliefs and experience should correspond with individual differences in the internal working models and attachment patterns. [1] This theory suggests a "secure" IWM of self and others predicts viewing God as supporting. A person with a preoccupied or anxious attachment may be expected to have a deeply emotional, grasping relationship with their idea of God, while a person with an avoidant attachment would be expected to view a God as remote or inaccessible. [1]
The correspondence hypothesis suggests securely attached people would be expected to reflect the religious standards while insecurely attached people would not be expected to reflect their attachment figure's religious standards. [13] People who report being more cared for by parents score higher on measures of religiousness, but only if their parents also displayed high levels of religiosity. [13] Another study found that such people had a higher assessed religiosity as socially rooted in the parental relationship. This aspect of the correspondence hypothesis, that is, people reflecting attachment figure's religious standards, can be called "social correspondence". [13]
In social psychology, an interpersonal relation describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more persons. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences. Relations vary in degrees of intimacy, self-disclosure, duration, reciprocity, and power distribution. The main themes or trends of the interpersonal relations are: family, kinship, friendship, love, marriage, business, employment, clubs, neighborhoods, ethical values, support and solidarity. Interpersonal relations may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and form the basis of social groups and societies. They appear when people communicate or act with each other within specific social contexts, and they thrive on equitable and reciprocal compromises.
Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks can be summarized according to the classic distinction between the natural-scientific and human-scientific approaches. The first cluster amounts to objective, quantitative, and preferably experimental procedures for testing hypotheses about causal connections among the objects of one's study. In contrast, the human-scientific approach accesses the human world of experience using qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretive methods. This approach aims to discern meaningful, rather than causal, connections among the phenomena one seeks to understand.
Attachment theory is a psychological and evolutionary framework concerning the relationships between humans, particularly the importance of early bonds between infants and their primary caregivers. Developed by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby (1907–90), the theory posits that infants need to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver to ensure their survival, and to develop healthy social and emotional functioning.
Edward John Mostyn Bowlby, CBE, FBA, FRCP, FRCPsych was a British psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Bowlby as the 49th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
The study of religiosity and intelligence explores the link between religiosity and intelligence or educational level. Religiosity and intelligence are both complex topics that include diverse variables, and the interactions among those variables are not always well understood. For instance, intelligence is often defined differently by different researchers; also, all scores from intelligence tests are only estimates of intelligence, because one cannot achieve concrete measurements of intelligence due to the concept’s abstract nature. Religiosity is also complex, in that it involves wide variations of interactions of religious beliefs, practices, behaviors, and affiliations, across a diverse array of cultures.
Mary Dinsmore Ainsworth was an American-Canadian developmental psychologist known for her work in the development of the attachment theory. She designed the strange situation procedure to observe early emotional attachment between a child and their primary caregiver.
In psychology, an affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a caregiver for their child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another. The term was coined and subsequently developed over the course of four decades, from the early 1940s to the late 1970s, by psychologist John Bowlby in his work on attachment theory. The core of the term affectional bond, according to Bowlby, is the attraction one individual has for another individual. The central features of the concept of affectional bonding can be traced to Bowlby's 1958 paper, "The Nature of the Child's Tie to his Mother".
Attachment in children is "a biological instinct in which proximity to an attachment figure is sought when the child senses or perceives threat or discomfort. Attachment behaviour anticipates a response by the attachment figure which will remove threat or discomfort". Attachment also describes the function of availability, which is the degree to which the authoritative figure is responsive to the child's needs and shares communication with them. Childhood attachment can define characteristics that will shape the child's sense of self, their forms of emotion-regulation, and how they carry out relationships with others. Attachment is found in all mammals to some degree, especially primates.
In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to adult relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, adult romantic and carnal relationships and, in some cases, relationships with inanimate objects. Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. The working models of children found in Bowlby's attachment theory form a pattern of interaction that is likely to continue influencing adult relationships.
Attachment measures, or attachment assessments, are the various procedures used to assess the attachment system in children and adults. These procedures can assess patterns of attachment and individual self-protective strategies. Some assessments work across the several models of attachment and some are model-specific. Many assessments allow children and adults' attachment strategies to be classified into three primary attachment pattern groups: B-pattern, A-pattern, C-pattern. In most models, each pattern group is further broken down into several sub-patterns. Some assessments are capable of finding additional information about an individual, such as unresolved trauma, depression, history of family triangulation, and lifespan changes in the attachment pattern. Some assessments specifically or additionally look for caregiving behaviors, as caregiving and attachment are widely considered two separate systems for organizing thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Some methods assess disorders of attachment or romantic attachment.
Cupboard love is a popular learning theory of the 1950s and 1960s based on the research of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein and Mary Ainsworth. Rooted in psychoanalysis, the theory speculates that attachment develops in the early stages of infancy. This process involves the mother satisfying her infant's instinctual needs, exclusively. Cupboard love theorists conclude that during infancy, our primary drive is food which leads to a secondary drive for attachment.
Maternal deprivation is a scientific term summarising the early work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother. Although the effect of loss of the mother on the developing child had been considered earlier by Freud and other theorists, Bowlby's work on delinquent and affectionless children and the effects of hospital and institutional care led to his being commissioned to write the World Health Organization's report on the mental health of homeless children in post-war Europe whilst he was head of the Department for Children and Parents at the Tavistock Clinic in London after World War II. The result was the monograph Maternal Care and Mental Health published in 1951, which sets out the maternal deprivation hypothesis.
The evolutionary psychology of religion is the study of religious belief using evolutionary psychology principles. It is one approach to the psychology of religion. As with all other organs and organ functions, the brain's functional structure is argued to have a genetic basis, and is therefore subject to the effects of natural selection and evolution. Evolutionary psychologists seek to understand cognitive processes, religion in this case, by understanding the survival and reproductive functions they might serve.
Attachment theory, originating in the work of John Bowlby, is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that provides a descriptive and explanatory framework for understanding interpersonal relationships between human beings.
Mary Main was an American psychologist notable for her work in the field of attachment. A Professor at the University of California Berkeley, Main is particularly known for her introduction of the 'disorganized' infant attachment classification and for development of the Adult Attachment Interview and coding system for assessing states of mind regarding attachment. This work has been described as 'revolutionary' and Main has been described as having 'unprecedented resonance and influence' in the field of psychology.
Secure attachment is classified by children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves quickly when the caregiver returns. Children with secure attachment feel protected by their caregivers, and they know that they can depend on them to return. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth developed a theory known as attachment theory after inadvertently studying children who were patients in a hospital at which they were working. Attachment theory explains how the parent-child relationship emerges and provides influence on subsequent behaviors and relationships. Stemming from this theory, there are four main types of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, avoidant attachment and disorganized attachment.
Most scientists agree that religiosity is not an independent personality trait, despite there being some commonality between their characteristics. Religiosity and personality traits both relate to one's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. However, unlike for personality, one's level of religiosity is often measured by the presence or lack of belief in and relationship with a higher power, certain lifestyles or behaviors adopted for a higher power, and a sense of belonging with other followers of one's religion. Additionally, personality traits tend to follow a normal distribution, such that the majority of individuals' scores for a personality trait will be concentrated towards the middle, rather than being extremely high or low. Distributions for religiosity, however, follow a non-normal distribution, such that there are more individuals who score particularly high or low on religiosity scales.
Attachment and health is a psychological model which considers how the attachment theory pertains to people's preferences and expectations for the proximity of others when faced with stress, threat, danger or pain. In 1982, American psychiatrist Lawrence Kolb noticed that patients with chronic pain displayed behaviours with their healthcare providers akin to what children might display with an attachment figure, thus marking one of the first applications of the attachment theory to physical health. Development of the adult attachment theory and adult attachment measures in the 1990s provided researchers with the means to apply the attachment theory to health in a more systematic way. Since that time, it has been used to understand variations in stress response, health outcomes and health behaviour. Ultimately, the application of the attachment theory to health care may enable health care practitioners to provide more personalized medicine by creating a deeper understanding of patient distress and allowing clinicians to better meet their needs and expectations.
Internal working model of attachment is a psychological approach that attempts to describe the development of mental representations, specifically the worthiness of the self and expectations of others' reactions to the self. This model is a result of interactions with primary caregivers which become internalized, and is therefore an automatic process. John Bowlby implemented this model in his attachment theory in order to explain how infants act in accordance with these mental representations. It is an important aspect of general attachment theory.
The dynamic-maturational model of attachment and adaptation (DMM) is a biopsychosocial model describing the effect attachment relationships can have on human development and functioning. It is especially focused on the effects of relationships between children and parents and between reproductive couples. It developed initially from attachment theory as developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, and incorporated many other theories into a comprehensive model of adaptation to life's many dangers. The DMM was initially created by developmental psychologist Patricia McKinsey Crittenden and her colleagues including David DiLalla, Angelika Claussen, Andrea Landini, Steve Farnfield, and Susan Spieker.
