The style of attachment affects everything from the way we develop a relationship with our partners to how well we select the partners themselves to sadly, how relationships break up. Recognizing the attachment styles and its impacts on love can help us to understand our vulnerabilities and strengths in a relationship. These attachment styles develop in early childhood attachments between an infant and the mother and continue to work as a functioning model in adult relationships. When there is a secure attachment, two adults become confident and self-possessed to an extent of easily interacting with others and meeting one’s needs and both their needs. This paper, therefore, seeks to analyze the connection between adult attachment styles and the types of love adults develop.
Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love and Types of Adult Attachment
What is love and how do we define it? Some think of love as an expression of affection while other think of love as a physical connection. According to Sternberg, “the triangular theory of love holds that love can be understood in terms of three components that together can be viewed as forming the vertices of a triangle” (Sternberg, 1986, p.119). Additionally, Sternberg identifies the three elements which combined create love as intimacy, passion, and commitment. Since attachment styles correlate with the social relationship people form with each other, the interpersonal bond formed is prevalent to an extent of creating intimacy. Konrath, Chopik, Hsing " O’Brien (2014, p.326), argue that the four types of attachment styles present in adults include; security, dismissing individuals, preoccupied and fearful. This, therefore, means that for people to form intimate relationships that are filled with passion the four attachment styles are essential to form connections with long-term mutual commitment. Additionally, the attachment methods adult form can be influenced by alterations in the interpersonal environment and sociocultural perspectives that create a platform for two people to be intimate, passionate and create connections that lead to long-term attachment.
Specific Types of Attachment
Specific types of attachment are related to the specific types of love adults form over a longer duration of time. According to Collins " Read (1990, p.644), “the nature and quality of one’s close relationships in adulthood are strongly influenced by adult attachments and the beliefs about the self, nature of love and the social world in general.” Additionally, the authors suggest that research has proved that the goals of adult attachment style are not only forming physical bonds but also for a felt security. The commitment to maintain love includes the cognitive element that security as an attachment style that adult form. For a “lover to become a potential long-term commitment to a loving relationship, both the lovers must be secure.” (Sternberg, 1986, p.119). Also, the intimate love is not valid for instances where the partners are insecure, dismissing, fearful and preoccupied.
Type of Adult Attachment and Type of Adult Love
Several types of research support the connection between the type of adult attachment styles that are formed when forming relationships and the types of adult love. Adults have “individual differences in attachment styles which are thought to reflect the different psychological organization of the attachment system” (Giles, 1995, p. 1). Drawing from this theory the author argues that adults with various attachment methods differ in the manner they express love to their partners. For example, for bonds characterized by happiness, friendship, trust, and happiness most of the time the lovers are secure, not fearful, and provides attention to their partners.
How Research Can be Used to Help Individuals in a Professional Setting
Research on adult attachment and adult love can be used by professionals to help individuals in a professional setting. Professionals can use the major frameworks of research conducted in this area to study the problems in the romantic attachment. As a result, they will be able to provide a unified framework that will provide an empirical support to these individuals and provide an impetus for their unresolved issues. Many of intense emotions may develop from the onset of relationships based on the research on attachment styles. As such, through this theory, the tensions in a romantic relationship can be easily be identified in a professional setting that includes unanswered questions, controversies and the debates that arise. Depending on the extent of the problems encountered by individuals at the course of their relationships, the findings of research done on types of attachment styles can enable professional to identify conditions of comfort, safety, and security that may need to be addressed within the individuals on therapies.
Moreover, the same motivational system that defines adult attachment gives rise to a close emotional bond between two people in a relationship. As such, professionals in this field can be able to utilize these research to The implications of attachment styles formed during interpersonal relationship would create a development model that will seek to understand the measure of love in relationships. As such, psychology professions can prepare for successful couple relationships by understanding the impact of love and the types of attachment adults form at the course of their relationships. When one of the attachment styles is neglected the triangle of love becomes weak and therefore it is easy to deduce where the problem in the relationship comes about.
References
Giles, J. (1995). A Theory of Love and Sexual Desire. Journal of the Theory of Social Behavior, 24(4), 1-19.
Konrath, S., Chopik, W., Hsing, C., " O'Brien, E. (2014). Changes in Adult Attachment Styles in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology, 18(4), 326-348.
Read, S., " Nancy, C. (1990). Adult Attachment, Working Models, and Relationship Quality in Dating Couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(4), 644-643.
Sternberg, R. J. (1986). A Triangular Theory of Love. The American Psychological Association, 93(2), 119-135.
