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The earliest research on adult attachment involved studying the association between individual differences in adult attachment and the way people think about their relationships and their memories for what their relationships with their parents are like. Hazan and Shaver developed a simple questionnaire to measure these individual differences. These individual differences are often referred to as attachment styles , attachment patterns , attachment orientations , or differences in the organization of the attachment system . In short, Hazan and Shaver asked research subjects to read the three paragraphs listed below, and indicate which paragraph best characterized the way they think, feel, and behave in close relationships: A. I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being. B. I...

Adult Romantic Relationships Although Bowlby was primarily focused on understanding the nature of the infant-caregiver relationship , he believed that attachment characterized human experience from "the cradle to the grave." It was not until the mid-1980's, however, that researchers began to take seriously the possibility that attachment processes may play out in adulthood. Hazan and Shaver were two of the first researchers to explore Bowlby's ideas in the context of romantic relationships. According to Hazan and Shaver, the emotional bond that develops between adult romantic partners is partly a function of the same motivational system--the attachment behavioral system--that gives rise to the emotional bond between infants and their caregivers.  Hazan and Shaver noted that the relationship between infants and caregivers and the relationship between adult romantic partners share the following features: both feel safe when the other is nearby and responsive both ...