The Relationship Among Attachment Patterns, Mentalization, and Empathy

Attachment theory has been an extremely influential theory of social development for several decades. Mentalization encompasses the ability to differentiate between self and other and is thought to be the foundation for affect regulation, self agency and prosocial behaviors. In the area of adult attachment, proponents of the Developmental Psychology tradition have focused on mentalization as the defining element of attachment security. Alternatively, the personality and social psychology tradition has largely been interested in the study of emotion regulation, but the specific relationship between attachment status and mentalization has yet to be explored. Additionally, the construct of empathy has also been underresearched in terms of its relationship to both attachment and mentalization. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between attachment status, mentalization (identifying complex affect states), and multidimensional empathy (perspective taking, empathic concern, fantasy, personal distress) in adulthood. The 123 adult participants completed self-report questionnaires of attachment (Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire) and multidimensional empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index). Mentalization was measured using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). Analyses revealed that attachment was significantly related to the identification of complex affect states. Attachment-related avoidance was related to lower accuracy in the identification of affect states overall, as well as lower accuracy with specifically positive and neutral stimuli. Lower levels of attachment-related anxiety were associated with improved identification of overall affect states, as well as better identification of negative affect states. Support was also obtained for the relationship between attachment style and affective components of empathy. Attachment related anxiety significantly predicted higher scores on empathic concern and personal distress as well as better scores on an empathy fantasy scale. Attachment related avoidance was inversely related to empathic concern, while positively related to personal distress. No significant main effects were observed for insecure attachment and cognitive empathy. Limited findings for attachment security and fearful attachment were obtained. Implications for using the ECR as a measure of attachment are discussed in this context. Finally, mentalization and general empathy were found to be distinct constructs with no significant relationship between them, whereas personal distress was inversely related to mentalization. Implications of the study, clinical applications of the findings, and directions for future research are discussed.