Adult attachment and working models of emotion

Abstract

The Self-Confrontation Method (SCM; Hermans & Hermans-Jansen, 1995) was used to examine the relationship between emotional experience and attachment style in a college student sample (N ¼ 143). Securely attached participants were found to be significantly higher in positive affective experiences while fearful participants reported significantly less positive affect. Secure and dismissing participants reported significantly more affect directed toward self-enhancement than fearful participants. Dismissing participants reported significantly less affect directed toward connectedness with others when compared to secure, preoccupied and fearful participants. The implications of these findings for attachment theory, the utility of the SCM as a research tool and counseling are discussed.The Self-Confrontation Method (SCM) was developed by Hermans and Hermans-Jansen (1995) and designed to provide an idiographic measure of personality based on an individual's unique, emotion-laden meanings for significant life experiences. With the SCM, individuals are invited to construct valuations based on self-selected events and life episodes that are important to them; the process yields both quantitative and qualitative data about persons' narratives and the emotions imbedded in them (

Predicting Follow‐up Outcomes in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: The Role of Change in Trust, Relationship‐Specific Attachment, and Emotional Engagement

“…Comfort with closeness is related to lower emotional control of anger, sadness, and anxiety for female partners and lower control of anxiety and sadness for male partners. Research has demonstrated that when partners control negative emotions, they are less likely to report positive emotions in the relationship (Alford, Lyddon, & Schreiber, ). Insecure, attachment‐related emotion regulation strategies such as “talking around” the issue or avoidance of communication when there has been a breach of trust in the relationship are associated with detrimental relationship outcomes (Jang, Smith, & Levine, ).…”

Narrating the dialogical self: Toward an expanded toolbox for the counselling psychologist

“…The first consists of articles by Hermans (2006), Lyddon et al (2006) and Alford, Lyddon and Schreiber (2006), which collectively provide a theoretical foundation for use of the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM), clearly explicate its procedures, and demonstrate its relevance to understanding basic issues of attachment that often undergird problematic relationships. Taken together, they suggest the utility of a practice (in this instance, the SCM) that fosters reflection on the dialogical self in counselling, ultimately helping the client confront and perhaps work toward changing the emotional valence of his or her biography and the character of his or her engagement with self and others.…”

Psychological Intervention for Adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: For Whom and When?

“…The SCM, an evidence-based psychological intervention 18 , guides narrative self-reflections with special attention to the affective organization 19 . The method's theoretical background 20,21 , its clinical use 22,23 , its psychometric properties, validity and reliability 24 , and its use to compare groups 25 have all been extensively reported. Further, the use of the SCM with children 26 and with a group of adolescents with a chronic illness 27 has been described.…”