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

Three studies examined the association between adult attachment style and the sense of trust in close relationships. Study 1 focused on the accessibility of trustrelated memories. Studies 2-3 focused on trust-related goals and coping strategies, while using different data collection techniques (open-ended probes, lexical decision task). Findings showed that secure persons felt more trust toward partners, showed higher accessibility of positive trust-related memories, 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 anxiousambivalent persons, and control attainment was an additional goal of avoidant persons. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models.