such as not being comforted when they are feeling down (Collins, Ford, Gui-
chard, & Allard, 2006).
One team of researchers asked couples in airport lounges to complete an at-
tachment style inventory (Fraley & Shaver, 1998). The investigators then
watched surreptitiously and coded various behaviors (for example, hugs, eye
contact, sitting close) while the couples waited for the departure. As expected, se-
cure partners showed signs of closeness when one of them was leaving. In con-
trast, avoidant participants showed sig ns of pulling away from their partners as
the departure approached. Presumably, these avoidant adults were experiencing
anxiety and fear related to the impending separation from their partners.
Avoidant individuals also have difficulty giving and seeking emotional sup-
port from their partners just when they need support the most. This pattern
has been found in a series of laboratory studies that look at couples ’reactions
to stress (Collins & Feeney, 2000; Feeney & Collins, 2001; Simpson, Rholes,
Orina, & Grich, 2002). Women in one study were told they would soon be
going through an anxiety-provoking experience involving an isolation chamber
and some threatening electronic equipment (Simpson, Rholes, & Nelligan,1992). Whereas secure women sought more comfort from their partners as
their anxiety increased, avoidant women wanted less support when they be-
came anxious. Secure male partners in this study offered more emotional sup-
port when their partners expressed anxiety, but avoidant men did not.
Before closing the door on this research, we should offer a bit of opti-
mism to those who fear they might not have a secure attachment style. Itmay be possible for people to change their attachment style when they enter
a secure, long-lasting adult relationship (Carnelley, Pietromonaco, & Jaffe,
1994; Davila, Karney, & Bradbury, 1999). Specifically, a loving and trusting
adult relationship may provide the secure working model some people were
denied as children. Thirty percent of the young women in one study changed
their attachment style classification over a 2-year span (Davila, Burge, &Hammen, 1997). This observation suggests that attachment style may not be
as set early in life as Bowlby and others suggested. It also makes it difficult to
know whether relationships last because people have secure attachment stylesor whether people develop secure attachment styles because their relation-
ships last so long.
SUMMARY
1. People do not passively accept their discomfort when faced with an
anxiety-provoking situation. Instead, each of us has learned to take steps
to reduce that anxiety. Researchers divide these coping strategies into
active and avoidant categories, and into those that focus on the problem
and those that deal with the emotional reaction. Which of these strategies
will be more effective in reducing anxiety depends on the availability of
means to solve the problem.
2. Researchers have applied many psychoanalytic concepts to understanding
the causes and consequences of aggression. Studies find that frustration isa source of aggression, but not all frustrating events lead to aggression.146 CHAPTER 6 The Neo-Freudian Theories