The Effect Of Attachment Security Priming On Willingness To Sacrifice And Sacrifice Motivation In Intimate Relationship

In recent years,some researchers have viewed attachment from the perspective of social cognition.They present attachment related stimulus to activate attachment mental representations,which is called attachment security priming.Many researches show that the activation of secure attachment has a positive impact on individual emotional experience and regulation,interpersonal relationships,and inter-group attitudes.This research including three experiments explored whether the attachment security priming can increase the individual’s willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships,and whether this effect can be sustained through repeated activation.And it further compared the different effects of subliminal security priming and supraliminal security priming.The effects of different forms of priming materials are also compared.Study 1 was a mixed design of 2(priming manipulation: safe/neutral)× 2(priming material: text/image)× 2(degree of sacrifice: daily/major)with 70 college students divided into4 groups,which were secure text activation,neutral text activation,secure image activation,and neutral image activation.The aim of this study was to explore the influence of different methods of subliminal activation on the participants’ willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships.The results show that using text as a stimulus material for attachment security priming can significantly increase the individual’s willingness to sacrifice in an intimate relationship,while the image materials did not show this effect.Participants’ chronic attachment style did not play a moderating role between secure priming and willingness to sacrifice.Study 2 adopted a mixed design of 2(priming manipulation: safe/neutral)× 2(priming materials: writing/drawing)× 2(degree of sacrifice: daily/major),and divided 73 college students into 4 groups.The aim of this study was to explore the influence of different ways of supraliminal priming on participants’ willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships.The results show that writing secure feelings can significantly increase the individual’s willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships,while drawing secure feelings does not show this effect.Participants’ chronic attachment style did not play a moderating role between attachment security priming and willingness to sacrifice.Study 1 and study 2 are temporary priming in a laboratory setting.The results show that both the supraliminal and subliminal priming methods can increase the individual’s willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships,and only text-based activation materials show this effect.Study 3 took the repeated online writing to further explore the continuous effect of the attachment secure priming on sacrifice willingness and sacrifice motivation.Study 3,through repeated priming over a period of one month,found that participants in the secure attachment priming group showed a higher level of willingness to sacrifice than those in the neural priming group.And compared with the baseline level at the beginning of the month,The willingness to sacrifice of the participants in the secure priming group were also increased significantly at the end of the month,but this effect was not reflected in the sacrifice approach motive and the sacrifice avoidance motive.Participants’ chronic attachment style did not play a moderating role in the attachment security priming and willingness to sacrifice.In summary,this research confirms that attachment security priming can significantly increase the individual’s willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationships,and that this effect simultaneously appears in supraliminal priming and subliminal priming,and this effect has a long-term effect.However,this lasting influence is not manifested in sacrifice motivation.The research further found that text-based stimulus materials are more effective than image materials in the secure priming.In addition,research has confirmed that the influence of attachment security priming on willingness to sacrifice is independent of the individual’s chronic attachment style.The results of this study enrich the relevant theories of attachment priming,and provide more detailed ideas for the future selection of priming materials and its use in the Chinese cultural context.