The purpose of this paper will be to explore the effect of communication technology on interpersonal relationships, with regard to the attachment styles of individuals in the relationships. The central thesis is that, based on the anxious and avoidant attachment styles of individuals in the relationship, the influence of text message “read receipts” will have a negative impact on couples’ overall relationship quality relative to the control. First, I will discuss the relevant literature on attachment styles, providing distinctions between anxious, and avoidant attachment styles. I will then examine research that: establishes the criterion used to measure relationship quality, explains the influence of various attachment styles on relationship quality, and describes the influence of communication technology (specifically texting) on romantic relationships, with regard to individuals’ attachment styles. Then I will discuss the novelty of my hypotheses, providing a description of the conceptual methodology required to test these theories. Finally, I will conclude this paper by discussing the implications of my proposal for future research and understanding human behavior.
The initial attachment theory, fostered by the collaboration of John Bowlby (1969) and Mary Ainsworth et al. (1978) research, focused on infant’s connection to their mother’s presence, absence and return, and established the three attachment styles: secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment (Bretherton, 1992; Li & Chan, 2012). Future research would continue to build on their theory, applying the attachment styles to adult relationships. In particular, Bartholomew’s (1990) research categorized attachment into four styles based on a two-dimensional model of positi...
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...), 150-162. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00639.x
Li, T., & Chan, D. K. (2012). How Anxious and Avoidant Attachment Affect Romantic Relationship Quality Differently: A Meta-Analytic Review. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 406-419. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.1842
Lou, S. (2014). Effects of Texting on Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships: The Role of Attachment [Abstract]. Computers in Human Behavior, 33, 145-152. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.014
< http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214000193>
Mario, M., & Phillip, S. (2002). Attachment Theory and Affect Regulation: The Dynamics, Development, and Cognitive Consequences of Attachment-Related Strategies. Motivation and Emotion, 27(2), 77-102. Retrieved May 05, 2014, from
Technology has advanced immensely in the last 50 years. We are living in the digital age, where technology and social media have become a part of our everyday routine. The majority of the nation owns a cell phone equipped with the ability to text. Since technology has become a very convenient way of communication, it has even managed to change human interactions and become apart of relationships. Texting limits relationships because it’s simply impossible to express emotion the way you can in person.
In Ashton Kutcher’s internet era, he asked a simple question are we losing our ability to really communicate. To be honest, texting is slowing killing romance. Ashton Kutcher was trying to say that texting could show sham emotions to the person it was sent to. When you get in a relationship what would you rather want would you rather want someone to text you and tell you that they miss you or would you rather have someone come all the way up to come see you and tell you face to face that they miss you See texting does kill romance that would be so romantic if someone did that for you. Also, texting sometimes makes the human body lazy. When texting became popular you have only seen a couple of people being so romantic
The attachment theory helps to examine who we form relationships with, why these relationships work or fail, and how the relationships help to develop us in adolescence and on to adulthood. Mary Ainsworth stated a child/infant needed a secure base from where they could explore the world (Bretheron, 1992). Ainsworth stated a secure base is an emotional rich environment (1963). She also formulated the ideal of maternal instincts allow the mother to meet the infants need and with that ability, the infant-mother attachment is solidified. Ainsworth methodology made it possible to test and empirically prove attachment theory (Bretheron, 1992). The attachment theory highlights the importance of a secure base, infants and young
Researchers at the University of Essex divided participants into pairs and had them talk to each other for 10 minutes with half the participants having a phone with them and the rest without one present. The study was conducted to test how the presence of phones affected affinity, empathy, and trust. The results of the study indicated that phones caused a decrease in empathy and understanding and prevented the participants from establishing a connection with their partners.
Relationships are the building block for personality and are significant in children’s ability to grow into substantial individuals who can thrive in an often harsh world. Constructing lasting and fulfilling relationships is an integral part to development as the interpersonal bonds forged are not only highly sought after but also set the ground work for all upcoming expressive interactions. Relationships and attachment go hand in hand as attachment is the strong and lasting linkage established between a child and his or her caregiver. Moreover, attachment significantly influences a large capacity of ones make up as it these first relationships that teaches morals, builds self-esteem, and develops a support system. The pioneers of Attachment Theory realized early on that human beings are not solely influenced by drives but that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers greatly impact their ability to forge lasting relationships later in life. John Bowlby was first to introduce this theory to the masses in the 1950’s, and later Mary Ainsworth conducted further research to expand on Bowlby’s theory which proclaims that attachment is a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Bowlby, 1969, p. 194). The attachment bond theory by both Bowlby and Ainsworth focuses on the significance of the relationship between babies and their caretakers which research has suggested is accountable for influencing impending interactions, firming or injuring our capabilities to concentrate, being aware of our emotional states, self-soothing capabilities, and the capacity to be resilient in the face of hardship. Additionally, this research has provided a framework for assisting in describing these att...
Admittedly, many psychologists define attachment as an enduring, affectionate bond that one person forms between himself and another person throughout life. Mary Ainsworth provided the most famous research: strange situation, offering explanations of individual differences in attachment. However, in this Adult Attachment Style questionnaire that I took, I found many factors relevant to attachment as defined in the textbook. For example, in the textbook, it defines attachment based on Ainsworth research, the strange situation by observing attachment forms between mother and infants. They are described in four attachment styles: securely attached, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant, and insecure disorganized.
In his original thesis, Bowlby (1969) never formalized an extension of his theory of attachment beyond childhood, but he clearly implied an extension should be sought. Perhaps his clearest statements regarding this extension involved his suggestions that people change to whom they are primarily attached as they age. He argued that in adolescents it was likely that peers played an increasingly important role in their attachment lives, and in adulthood, people would become primarily attached to a spouse or mate. Only in the last thirty years have scholars made a serious attempt to extend the ideas in attachment theory to adult relationships. One influential attempt came from Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) assertion that the attachment system is at least partially responsible for the adult romantic bond. Indeed multiple parallels have been drawn between the behavior in infant-caregiver interactions and adult romantic partner interactions. Zeifman and Hazan (1997) offer a fairly extensive account of the commonalities in adult romantic and infant-caregiver attachment. They note that cer...
It has been proposed that infant attachment styles do not change after the first year of life, the following essay will argue against this prompt in that ones attachment style will change continuously throughout life. Attachment theory is based on the joint work of Bowlby and Ainsworth (Bretherton, 1992). In recent years the idea of ‘attachment’ has become and increasingly popular debate within developmental psychology (Bretherton, 1992). Attachment theory provides an explanation on how parent and child relationships are formed and the important role they play in child development. However majority of the research into attachment has focused on identifying the stability of attachment rather then identifying the possible insatiability of
Mary Main was Ainssowrth student. She therefore introduced another fourth category of attachment styles with her attachment studies with adults. During her longitudinal research project alongside her colleague Goldwyn on middle class children’s attachment styles, they found that about 79% of the time attachment styles remained constant from 18 months to 6 years of age (in Brandell & Ringel, 2007,). However in their observations about 5%) that did not fit into Ainsworth’s classification of attachment styles, which they called ‘disorganized/disoriented attachment’ (Main & Solomon, 1986, 1990). These children were fearful and engaged in repetitive or aggressive behaviors. Their behaviors at reunion were unpredictable. They displayed contradictory behavior patterns such as approaching and then suddenly avoiding or exhibiting misdirected behavior patterns such as crying when the stranger leaves or stereotypical behaviors such as rocking, hair pulling or freezing. The mothers of these children were either depressed or had unresolved grief due to early loss of own parents (Main & Solomon, 1986). In this type of attachment, there is no or very little organized strategy to cope with stress and to form an attachment relationship with the caregiver, because here, the attachment figure is the direct cause of distress or fear. An abusive, abandoned and frightening caregiver is the source of fear and the protector at the same time. The infant shows signs of distress and displays avoidant and inconsistent reactions in the presence of the caregiver (Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Stams et al, 2002).
John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure, insecure/resistant, insecure/avoidant and disorganized/disoriented, later leading to research studies done to observe this behavior and how it affects a child in their adolescence and adulthood.
Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P.R. (1999). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. New York: The Guilford Press.
The number of text messages sent monthly in the U.S. exploded from 14 billion in 2000 to 188 billion in 2010, according to a Pew Institute survey, and the trend shows no signs of abating. Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day, compared to 17 phone calls. The numbers change as we get older, with the overall frequency of all communication declining, but even in the 65 and over group, daily texting still edges calling 4.7 to 3.8 according to the Pew Institute survey.
Hazan, C., Gur-Yaish, N., & Campa, M. (2003). What does it mean to be attached? In W. S. Rholes & J. A. Simpson (Eds.) Adult Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications, (pp. 55 – 85). New York: Guilford.
The context of communication in these studies is interpersonal communication with a specific focus on intimacy in romantic relationships and in computer mediated communication, respectively.
Computer technology like phone has become a vital part in people’s life, especially teenagers. There are individuals who cannot sleep without mobile phone (Irving, 2014). Moreover, the first thing is playing phone after they get up. They live in a world of computer technology and they seldom communicate with their parents, which increase the distance with parent. In addition, computer technology like Facebook is being blamed for a growing number of divorces. The reason is that when people have emotional contract they are likely to going online, which easily cause estrangement with partners. Thus, computer technology is a reason that causes increasing the distance with