The Influence Of Security Attachment On Interpersonal Trust

Interpersonal trust is not only one of the most important quality of intimate relationships, but also a necessary condition for development of commitment and a sense of security, lack of trust leads to despair, reduces relationship satisfaction, leads to relationship disruption. Attachment is the most important emotional intimacy band through the whole life of individual, which will affect the formation of the individual internal working model. The security base effect of safety attachment involves all aspects of interpersonal and social adaptation, and individual cognitive positive self and others, positive coping styles, prosocial behavior and a higher level of mental health, so it plays a positive role on individual survival and adaptation.Interpersonal trust is an important aspect of human relationship, this is the common feature between interpersonal trust and attachment. Interpersonal trust includes a variety of positive expectations for their partner’s availability, response and caring, all of these are core components of the internal working models of securely attached persons. The securely attached persons believe the availability, sensitivity and reactivity of their partner’s, so they will experience higher levels of trust. So the interpersonal trust is the most important factor for well-developed interpersonal function. Bowlby’s of attachment theory and Eriksson’ psychological and social development, are all put forward that the higher level of trust relationship in early life is the foundation of the good relations during adulthood.In recent years, researchers have changed their focuse from trait attachment to state attachment, and to examine the positive effect of state attachment on self-other cognitive, interpersonal, and other aspects of social adaptation.Interpersonal trust as a core concept in the interpersonal field, previous studies focused only on the relationship between trait attachment and interpersonal trust. Therefore, this study verified trait attachment and interpersonal trust, examined the impact of secure attachment prime on interpersonal trust, and further extended the Broaden and Build Cycle of attachment security, so as to explore the effective ways to improve individual interpersonal trust.Object:This research adopts the social cognitive experiment and behavior trust game paradigm to examine the impact of secure attachment on interpersonal trust. Across three studies, Study1examined the influence of dispositional attachment on interpersonal trust; Study2includes two experiments, respectively using supraliminal and subliminal to activate safety attachment, then explored its influence on interpersonal trust, and the validation of The Broaden and Build Cycle of attachment security. We also explored the interpersonal trust behavior and direct trust reports in study3.Methods:In Study1,189college students respectively completed the Experiences in Close Relationships scales (ECR) and Interpersonal trust scales (ITS).Study2contains two experiments. Experimentl used supraliminal prime,100college students first completed the ECR and ITS. Second, they were randomly assigned into three priming groups, respectively for security attachment, positive mood and control group. Then all of them finished lexical decision tasks.Experiment2used subliminal prime with120college students as the subjects, experimental procedure like experimental1.Study3explored the interpersonal trust behavior and direct trust reports. First,66college students complete the ECR. Then they were randomly assigned into two priming groups, respectively for security attachment and control group. Finally, all the participants play the trust game, and report their interpersonal trust.Conclusion:①Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance of individual has significant negative prediction on interpersonal trust.②Supraliminal/subliminal security attachment prime are both effective in improving the interpersonal trust implicit activation level of the individual without the influence of dispositional attachment. And confirmed the positive effects of Broaden and Build Cycle of secure attachment.③Security attachment prime improved the trust behavior and direct report of trust level in Trust Game without the influence of dispositional attachment.