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MARK MANSON b
Author. Thinker. Life Enthusiast.
ATTACHMENT
THEORY
December 12, 2011 • 11 minute read • by Mark Manson

g
 A
ttachment theory is an area of psychology that
describes the nature of emotional attachment
between humans. It begins as children with our
attachment to our parents. The nature of this
attachment, and how well it’s fostered and cared for, will then
determine the nature of our attachment to romantic partners
later in our life.

Attachment theory began in the 1950s and has since amassed a small mountain
of research behind it. Two researchers named Bowlby and Ainsworth
independently found that the nature in which infants get their needs met by
their parents will determine their “attachment strategy” throughout their
lives.1 Your attachment strategy probably explains a great deal of why your
relationships have succeeded/failed in the manner they did, why you’re
attracted to the people you are attracted to, and the nature of the relationship
problems that come up again and again for you.

ATTACHMENT TYPES
According to psychologists, there are four attachment strategies people adopt:
secure, anxious, avoidant, and anxious-avoidant.2

Secure: People with secure attachment strategies are comfortable displaying

interest and affection. They are also comfortable being alone and independent.
They’re able to correctly prioritize their relationships within their life and tend
to draw clear boundaries and stick to them. Secure attachment types obviously
make the best romantic partners, family members, and even friends. They’re
capable of accepting rejection and moving on despite the pain, but are also
capable of being loyal and sacrificing when necessary. They have little issue
trusting people they’re close to and are trustworthy themselves. According to
research, over 50% of the population are secure attachment types.3 Secure
attachment is developed in childhood by infants who regularly get their needs
met, as well as receive ample quantities of love and affection.

Anxious: Anxious attachment

types are often nervous and
stressed about their
relationships. They need
constant reassurance and
affection from their partner.
They have trouble being alone
or single. They’ll often
succumb to unhealthy or
abusive relationships. They
have trouble trusting people,
Anxious type
even if they’re close to them.
Their behavior can be
irrational, sporadic, and overly-emotional and complain that everyone of the
opposite sex are cold and heartless. This is the girl who calls you 36 times in
one night wondering why you didn’t call her back. Or the guy who follows his
girlfriend to work to make sure she’s not flirting with any other men. Women
are more likely to be anxious types than men. Anxious attachment strategies are
developed in childhood by infants who receive love and care with unpredictable
sufficiency.

Avoidant: Avoidant
attachment types are extremely
independent, self-directed, and
often uncomfortable with
intimacy. They’re
commitment-phobes and
experts at rationalizing their
way out of any intimate
situation. They regularly
complain about feeling
“crowded” or “suffocated”
Avoidant type
when people try to get close to
them. In every relationship,
they always have an exit strategy. Always. And they often construct their
lifestyle in such a way to avoid commitment or too much intimate contact. This
is the guy who works 80 hours a week and gets annoyed when women he dates
want to see him more than once on the weekend. Or the girl who dates dozens
of guys over the course of years but tells them all she doesn’t want “anything
serious” and inevitably ends up ditching them when she gets tired of them.
Men are more likely than women to be avoidant types. Avoidant attachment
strategy is developed in childhood by infants who only get some of their needs
met while the rest are neglected (for instance, he/she gets fed regularly, but is
not held enough).

Anxious-Avoidant: Anxious-avoidant attachment types (also known as the

“fearful type”) bring together the worst of both worlds. Anxious-avoidants are
not only afraid of intimacy and commitment, but they distrust and lash out
emotionally at anyone who tries to get close to them. Anxious-avoidants often
spend much of their time alone and miserable, or in abusive or dysfunctional
relationships. According to studies, only a small percentage of the population
qualifies as anxious-avoidant types, and they typically have a multitude of other
emotional problems in other areas of their life (i.e., substance abuse,
depression, etc.4). Anxious-avoidant types develop from abusive or terribly
negligent childhoods.

As with most psychological profiling, these types aren’t monolithic qualities,

but scalar in nature and somewhat independent. For instance, according to the
book Attached by Amir Levie and Rachel Heller, I scored about 75% on the
secure scale, 90% on the avoidant scale, and 10% on the anxious scale. And my
guess is that 3-5 years ago, the secure would have been lower and the anxious
would have been higher, although my avoidant has always been solidly maxed
out (as any of my ex-girlfriends will tell you).

The point is, you can exhibit tendencies of more than one strategy depending
on the situation and at different frequencies. Although, everyone has one
dominant strategy. So “secure” types will still exhibit some avoidant or anxious
behaviors, “anxious” types will sometimes exhibit secure behaviors, etc. It’s
not all or nothing. Both anxious types and avoidant types will still score a
certain amount on the secure scale. But anxious-avoidants will score high on
both anxious and avoidant types and low on the secure scale.

RELATIONSHIP
CONFIGURATIONS
Different attachment types tend to configure themselves into relationships in
predictable ways. Secure types are capable of dating (or handling, depending on
your perspective) both anxious and avoidant types. They’re comfortable
enough with themselves to give anxious types all of the reassurance they need
and to give avoidant types the space they need without feeling threatened
themselves.

Anxious and avoidants frequently end up in relationships with one another

more often than they end up in relationships with their own types.5 That may
seem counter-intuitive, but there’s order behind the madness. Avoidant types
are so good at putting others off that oftentimes it’s only the anxious types who
are willing to stick around and put in the extra effort to get them to open up.
For instance, a man who is avoidant may be able to successfully shirk a secure
woman’s pushes for increased intimacy. After which, the secure woman will
accept the rejection and move on. But an anxious woman will only become
more determined by a man who pushes her away. She’ll resort to calling him
for weeks or months on end until he finally caves and commits to her. This
gives the avoidant man the reassurance he needs that he can behave
independently and the anxious woman will wait around for him. Often these
relationships produce some magnitude of dysfunctional equilibrium as they fall
into a pattern of chaser-chasee, which are both roles the anxious and avoidant
types need in order to feel comfortable with intimacy.

Relationship dynamics between an avoidant and an anxious type.

Anxious-avoidants only date each other or the least secure of the anxious types
or avoidant types. These relationships are very messy, if not downright abusive
or negligent.

What all of this adds up to, which is the same conclusion I propose in my book,
is that in relationships, insecurity finds insecurity and security finds security,
even if those insecurities don’t always look the same. To put it bluntly, to
everyone who has emailed me over the years complaining that all of the people
they meet are insecure, or have trust issues, or are needy and manipulative…
well, let’s just say I have some bad news for you.
KNOWING AND CHANGING
YOUR ATTACHMENT TYPE
If you don’t have an idea of what your attachment style is yet and want to take a
test, you can take this one. Please note that my score differed slightly on the
online version from the one I took in the book mentioned above. On the online
version, I came out solidly secure with only mild avoidance. The one I took in
the book told me I was solidly avoidant and mildly secure.

If you don’t want to take the test (takes 5-10 minutes), the gist of it is this: if
you’re consistently avoiding commitment, avoiding your romantic partners,
shutting them out, or not sharing things with them, then you’re probably pretty
avoidant. If you’re constantly worrying about your partners, feel like they don’t
like you as much as you like them, want to see them 24/7, need constant
reassurance from them, then you’re probably anxious. If you’re comfortable
dating people, being intimate with them and are able to draw clear boundaries
in your relationships, but also don’t mind being alone, then you’re probably
secure.

The good news is that your attachment style can change over time — although
it’s slow and difficult.

Research shows that an anxious or avoidant who enters a long-term relationship

with a secure can be “raised up” to the level of the secure over an extended
period of time. Unfortunately, an anxious or avoidant is also capable of
“bringing down” a secure to their level of insecurity if they’re not careful.
Also, extreme negative life events, such a divorce, death of child, serious
accident, etc., can cause a secure attachment type to fall into a more insecure
attachment type.6

For instance, a man may be more or less secure, get married to an anxious type,
bring her up to a more secure level, but when they run into money trouble she
falls back to her anxious level, cheats on him and then divorces him for all of his
money, sending him into a tailspin of avoidance. He goes on to ignore intimacy
and pump-and-dump women for the next 10 years, afraid to become intimate
with any of them.

If you’re beginning to think that anxious and/or avoidant behavior corresponds

to the fake alpha syndrome and other insecure behavior I describe in men in my
book, then you’re correct. Our attachment styles are intimately connected with
our confidence in ourselves and others.

Psychologists Bartholomew and Horowitz have hypothesized a model showing

that one’s attachment strategy corresponds to the degree of positive/negative
self-image, and the positive/negative image of others.7

Security-based strategy of affect regulation.

Secures exhibit both positive self-images and positive perceptions of others.

Anxious types exhibit negative self-images, but positive perceptions of others
(hence their needy behavior). Avoidants exhibit positive self-images and
negative perceptions of others (hence their arrogance and fear of commitment),
and anxious-avoidants exhibit negative perceptions of just about everything and
everyone (hence their inability to function in relationships).

Using this model as a roadmap, one can begin to navigate oneself to a more
secure attachment type. Anxious types can work on developing themselves,
creating healthy boundaries and fostering a healthy self-image. One of my most
common pieces of dating advice is for men to find something they’re passionate
about and good at and make that a focal point of their life rather than women.
Avoidant types can work on opening themselves up to others, and enrich their
relationships through sharing themselves more. Another one of my most
common pieces of advice to men is that it’s your responsibility to find
something great in everyone you meet. It’s not their responsibility to show you.
Become curious. Stop being judgmental.

And of course, some of you may be reading this and thinking, “I like being
alone and being able to sleep with whoever I want. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
And it’s true — many people lead happy, successful lives as avoidant or
anxious types. Some even have successful long-term relationships as an anxious
or avoidant. But research shows secures are consistently more happy and feel
more supported,8 are less likely to become depressed,9 are healthier,10 retain
more stable relationships, and become more successful11 than the other types.
And I can tell you from my personal experience, I’ve felt myself drift out of a
strong avoidant (and slightly anxious) attachment type to a more secure
attachment type over the past six years of working on myself in this area. And I
can unequivocally say that I’m happier and more fulfilled in my relationships
and with the women I date now than I ever was back then. I wouldn’t trade it
back for anything.

HOW TO STOP FUCKING UP YOUR

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships can be complicated and difficult. But few people know that
there are some pretty clear signals to know if a relationship is going to work
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Footnotes

1. Ainsworth, M. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to personality

development. American Psychologist, 46(4), 333.↵
2. Bartholomew, K., Kwong, M. J., & Hart, S. D. (2001). Attachment. In Handbook of
personality disorders: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 196–230). New York, NY, US:
Guilford Press.↵
3. Mickelson, K. D., Kessler, R. C., & Shaver, P. R. (1997). Adult attachment in a nationally
representative sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(5), 1092.↵
4. Caspers, K. M., Yucuis, R., Troutman, B., & Spinks, R. (2006). Attachment as an organizer
of behavior: implications for substance abuse problems and willingness to seek treatment.
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 1(1), 32.↵
5. Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Davis, K. E. (1994). Attachment style, gender, and relationship
stability: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(3), 502–
512.↵
6. Davila, J., Burge, D., & Hammen, C. (1997). Why does attachment style change? Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 826–838.↵
7. Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: a test
of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 226.↵
8. Ognibene, T. C., & Collins, N. L. (1998). Adult attachment styles, perceived social support
and coping strategies. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15(3), 323–345.↵
9. Roberts, J. E., Gotlib, I. H., & Kassel, J. D. (1996). Adult attachment security and
symptoms of depression: The mediating roles of dysfunctional attitudes and low self-
esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(2), 310–320.↵
10. Feeney, J. A. (2000). Implications of attachment style for patterns of health and illness.
Child: Care, Health & Development, 26(4), 277–288.↵
11. Blustein, D. L., Prezioso, M. S., & Schultheiss, D. P. (1995). Attachment Theory and
Career Development: Current Status and Future Directions. The Counseling Psychologist,
23(3), 416–432.↵
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