Attachment Style and Relationships

Assignment: Attachment Style and Relationships

Robert Sternberg created his triangular theory of love based on three dimensions: passion, intimacy, and commitment. The degree to which a relationship demonstrates these three dimensions determines the type of love relationship. People begin love relationships with those who care for them as children. These early relationships can have a great effect on their adult relationships.

• Review the First Attachment exercise on pp. 22–23 of the textbook.

• Write a 1050- to 1400-word response summarizing the three dimensions of love and how they interrelate to identify a specific type of love relationship. Also explain how you believe an individual’s attachment style can affect the types of love relationships he or she has.

• Due Date: Day 7 [post to your Individual Forum]

First Attachments

Read the following three paragraphs and select the one that best describes your

relationship with your mother when you were a child growing up. Then select the one

that best describes your relationship with your father.

My review was for both my mother and father are #1 Warm/Responsive.

1. Warm/Responsive—She/he was generally warm and responsive.

She/he was good at knowing when to be supportive and when to let

me operate on my own. Our relationship was always comfortable,

and I have no major reservations or complaints about it.

2. Cold/Rejecting—She/he was fairly cold and distant or rejecting, not

very responsive. I wasn’t her/his highest priority; her/his concerns

were often elsewhere. It’s possible that she/he would just as soon

not have had me.

3. Ambivalent/Inconsistent—She/he was noticeably inconsistent in

her/his reactions to me, sometimes warm and sometimes not.

She/he had her/his own agenda, which sometimes got in the way of

her/his receptiveness and responsiveness to my needs. She/he definitely

loved me but didn’t always show it in the best way.

According to Sternberg,...