Attachment working models and the sense of trust: An exploration of interaction goals and affect regulation

Five studies examined the association between adult attachment style and the sense of trust in close relationships. Study 1 focused on the accessibility of trust-related memories. Studies 2-5 focused on trust-related goals and coping strategies, while using different data collection techniques (open-ended probes, diary methodology, lexical decision task). Findings showed that secure persons felt more trust toward partners, showed higher accessibility of positive trust-related memories, reported more positive trust episodes over a 3-week period, and adopted more constructive strategies in coping with the violation of trust than insecure persons. In addition, whereas intimacy attainment was the main trust-related goal for all the attachment groups, security attainment was an additional goal of anxious-ambivalent persons, and control attainment was an additional goal of avoidant persons. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models.