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Love Test Findings
Attachment Style |
Do people with different attachment styles differ in terms of descrepancies between what they think love is and what they are experiencing?
Yes. People who chose the secure attachment style had smaller differences between what they think love is and their experience of love than did people who chose either avoidant or anxious/ambivalent attachment styles. People who reported avoidant attachment styles had someone larger descrepancies between what they think love and what they are experiencing. People who chose the anxious/ambivalent attachment style had the largest descrepancies between what they think love and what they are experiencing. This indicates that people who have learned that others can't be trusted to care about their needs (both avoidant and anxious/ambivalent participants) said that they aren't experiencing as much commitment, security and trust in the relationship as they feel should be. The key difference between the avoidant and anxious/ambivalent participants, is that avoidant participants expect less of these things from their relationships then do the the anxious/avoidant participants (who scored very similar to the secure folks in terms of what they think love is, but who are experiencing a lot less commitment, and more scary stuff than they think they should be experiencing).
Mean descrepancies between the concept items and the experience items for each attachment style group.
| Secure | Avoidant | Anxious /Ambivalent |
Item |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.7 | Confidence that it will be long-lasting |
| 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | Commitment |
| 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | Confidence that our feelings are Mutual |
| 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.5 | Security |
| -0.4 | -0.8 | -1.4 | Uncertainty |
| 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.2 | Happiness |
| 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.2 | Trust |
| 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.2 | Loyalty |
| 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.2 | A positive outlook |
| 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.2 | Touching |
| 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.1 | Understanding |
| 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 | Honesty |
| 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | Openness |
| 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | Respect |
| 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.1 | Closeness |
| 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | Intimacy |
| 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.1 | Responsibility |
| 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | Contentment |
| 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | Feeling good about myself |
| 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | Empathy |
| 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.0 | Feeling relaxed |
| 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | Being able to talk about anything |
| 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | Supportiveness |
| 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | Devotion |
| 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | Sharing |
| 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | Comforting each other |
| 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | Affection |
| 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | Patience |
| 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | Forgiveness |
| -0.1 | -0.6 | -0.8 | Scary feelings |
| 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | Unconditional caring |
| 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | Interest in each other |
| 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | Caring |
| 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | Accepting each other as is |
| 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 | Compassion |
| 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.7 | Kindness |
| 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.7 | Giving |
| -0.7 | -0.7 | -0.6 | Seeing only my partner's good qualities |
| 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 | Friendship |
| 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 | Willingness to sacrifice |
| 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | Helping |
| 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | Wanting the best for each other |
| 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | Doing things for each other |
| -0.5 | -0.3 | -0.6 | Physical attraction |
| 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | Energy |
| 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | Feeling important |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | Needing each other |
| 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Sexual passion |
| -0.5 | -0.4 | -0.5 | Increased heart rate |
| 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | Concern for each other's well being |
| 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | Wanting to be with each other |
| -0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | Admiration |
| -0.7 | -0.8 | -0.4 | Thinking about each other all th time |
| 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | Laughing |
| 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | Having warm feelings |
| 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | Having wonderful feelings |
| 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | Putting the other person first |
| -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.4 | Feeling attachment |
| 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | Liking |
| 0.0 | -0.1 | 0.4 | Interdependency |
| -0.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Euphoria |
| -0.6 | -0.3 | -0.3 | Having a lot in common |
| 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | Excitement |
| -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | Protectiveness |
| 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | Gazing at each other |
| -0.2 | -0.1 | 0.2 | Missing each other when apart |
| -0.2 | -0.1 | -0.1 | Butterflies in my stomach |
| -0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | Feelings of Sex appeal |
Return to the Love Test Findings - Attachment Styles Main Page
Return to the Love Test Findings Page.
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