Attachment Orientations and Reactions to Ostracism in Close Relationships and Groups

Abstract

Abstract Attachment theory is one of the most useful contemporary conceptual frameworks for understanding emotion regulation and mental health. In his exposition of attachment theory, John Bowlby explained how the sense of attachment security (confidence that one is lovable and that caregivers are available and supportive when needed) in relationships helps a person deal with threats, losses, and negative emotions and how attachment-related insecurities interfere with the regulation of negative emotions and recovery from rejections, losses, and setbacks throughout life. In the present chapter, we wish to explore the possibility that attachment security or insecurity in adulthood can help to explain individual differences in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to social rejection in both close relationships and groups. We review literature relevant to this proposal and also present data from a preliminary study of the buffering of one effect of ostracism—loss of meaning in life—by attachment security.