Digital Commons Network^™

Attachment And Attention: An Investigation Of Biases In Attention As They Relate To Attachment Security In Infancy And Adulthood, Paul J. Meinz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

At the advent of attachment theory, John Bowlby hypothesized that cognition and emotion are shaped by early experiences with primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1980). This idea – that aspects of cognition may be organized within early relationships – still plays a prominent role in contemporary attachment theory. The studies described within this dissertation provide support for the idea that attachment security in infancy and adulthood are associated with differences in cognition – particularly with differences in the way that people attend to certain forms of stimuli. Mothers and children in the studies described here were first assessed for individual differences in …