Abstract
We report a replication and extension of a finding from Studies 1 and 2 of Van Lange et al.'s influential paper (Van Lange et al. 1997 J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 73, 733–746. (doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.4.733)), which showed an association between Social Value Orientation (SVO) and attachment security. We report a close replication but with measures of attachment that are considered superior in comparison to measures used by Van Lange et al., due to subsequent psychometric improvements. Psychometric analyses indeed showed that our attachment measures were reliable and valid, demonstrating theoretically predicted associations with other outcomes. With a sample (N = 879) sufficiently large to detect d = 0.19 (and larger than the original N = 573), we failed to replicate the effect. Based on the available evidence, we interpret as there being no evidence for the link between attachment security and Social Value Orientation, but further replication research that uses solid measures and large samples can provide more definite conclusions about the association between attachment and SVO.
Highlights
Social Value Orientation (SVO; [1]) pertains to the value that individuals place on the outcomes of other people, including strangers
In 2011 and 2014, we used the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS; [22]), which is a questionnaire based on Bartholomew & Horowitz [7] consisting of subscales for attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety and attachment security
In 2012, 2013 and 2014, attachment style was assessed through the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR-R; [8,11]), which consists of subscales for attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety
Summary
Social Value Orientation (SVO; [1]) pertains to the value that individuals place on the outcomes of other people, including strangers. People are often divided along these SVOs into three orientations: prosocial Van Lange et al [1] speculated about a possible developmental origin of this orientation and reported first evidence that people who are more trusting in dyadic relations (i.e. securely attached individuals) were more prosocial in their behaviours towards generalized others. This finding was groundbreaking as it extended established individual difference patterns with close others (often a carer) to more generalized relationships with strangers. We provide an important first follow-up through a close replication
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