Adult attachment style and the perception of others: The role of projective mechanisms

In 3 reported studies the authors examined attachment-style differences in the perception of others, and the hypothesis that projective mechanisms underlie these differences. In these studies, participants reported on their attachment style and generated actual-self-traits and unwanted-self-traits; Then, a 2nd session was conducted, in which impression formation about new persons (Study 1), the ease of retrieval of memories about known persons (Study 2), or memory inferences about learned features of fictional persons (Study 3) were assessed. Findings indicate that whereas anxious-ambivalent persons' impression formation, memory retrieval, and inferences about others reflected the projection of their actual-self-traits, avoidant persons' responses reflected the projection of their unwanted-self-traits. Findings are discussed in terms of the regulatory goals and strategies that characterize the mental representations of each attachment style.