Thesis (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is a general assumption in psychology that past social relationships and experiences influence present social behaviour. With attachment theory and current social-cognitive theory as conceptual basis, the present study focused on the association between past experiences with significant others and the current processing of interpersonal information. By means of a 2x3x4 experimental design the study investigated the influence of chronic accessibility and subliminal priming (of significant other representations) on the accuracy and speed of processing scripted interpersonal information. One hundred and thirty seven university students took part in two sessions no more than two weeks apart. In session one they completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeny, Noller & Hanrahan, 1994), and provided the names of positive and negative significant others. According to a median split of the Confidence Scale of the ASQ, they were assigned to a chronic positive or a chronic negative group, assuming that the information based on predominantly positive or negative experiences with positive or negative significant others will be chronically more accessible. In session two, in an individual computer task, they were subliminally primed (33 ms) with a control word or the name of the positive or negative significant other to increase the accessibility of the appropriate memory structures. They were then asked to read a positive, negative, mixed or ambiguous script of an interpersonal event and complete a memory test of 36 interpersonal statements (nine positive, nine negative, nine ambiguous and nine filler statements). The accuracy and response time for every statement was recorded, and the response times of accurate responses for positive and negative scripts were included in the main analysis. Separate univariate analyses of the differences between positive and negative priming per polarity of chronic group and script supported the priming hypothesis. The average response time of the chronic negative group was fastest when they received a negative prime (p = .039), and the positive group was fastest when they received a positive prime (p = .000). The results of a two-way analysis of variance for chronic group and script showed a highly significant interaction effect between chronic group and script (p = .000). When the primes were congruent to the scripts, the chronic groups were significantly faster in recognising statements from a congruent script. The results supported the conjunctive model of priming. The implications of these findings for the understanding of the cognitive structures and processes involved in processing interpersonal information are discussed, with specific reference to relational schemas and attachment working models. Possible directions for future research as well as the application of the results are also described. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is ‘n algemene aanname in die sielkunde dat sosiale verhoudinge en ervarings uit die verlede ‘n invloed het op huidige sosiale gedrag. Vanuit die bindingsteorie en die huidige sosiaal-kognitiewe teorie as konseptuele uitgangspunt, fokus die huidige studie op die assosiasie tussen ervaringe met betekenisvolle persone in die verlede en die huidige prosessering van interpersoonlike inligting. Met behulp van ‘n 2x3x4 eksperimentele ontwerp is ondersoek ingestel na die invloed van chroniese toeganklikheid en subliminale opwekking (van geheuevoorstellings van betekenisvolle ander) op die akkuraatheid en spoed waarmee interpersoonlike tekste verwerk word. Eenhonderd-sewe-en-dertig universiteitstudente het deelgeneem aan twee sessies wat nie meer as twee weke na mekaar plaasgevind het nie. Tydens sessie een het die deelnemers die Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeny, Noller & Hanrahan, 1994) voltooi en die name van positiewe en negatiewe betekenisvolle persone voorsien. Op grond van die mediaan-verdeling van die Selfvertroue Skaal van die ASQ is die deelnemers toegewys aan ’n chronies positiewe of chronies negatiewe groep, met die veronderstelling dat inligting gebaseer op oorwegend positiewe of negatiewe ervarings met positiewe of negatiewe betekenisvolle ander deurlopend meer toegankilk sal wees. Tydens sessie twee, wat ’n individuele rekenaartaak behels het, is ’n subliminale stimulus (33 ms) van ’n kontrole-woord, of die naam van ’n positiewe of negatiewe betekenisvolle ander aan hulle aangebied om die toeganklikheid van die toepaslike geheue-strukture verder te verhoog. Daarna is hulle versoek om ‘n positiewe, negatiewe, gemengde of dubbelsinnige teks van ’n interpersoonlike gebeurtenis te lees en ’n geheuetoets van 36 stellings te voltooi wat bestaan het uit nege positiewe, nege negatiewe, nege dubbelsinnige en nege neutrale stellings. Die akkuraatheid en reaksiespoed van elke stelling is gemeet en die reaksietyd van die akkurate response op stellings uit positiewe en negatiewe tekste is in die primêre ontleding ingesluit. Die resultate van onafhanklike eenveranderlike ontledings van die verskille tussen positiewe en negatiewe opwekking per polariteit van chroniese groep en teks, het die hipotese van opwekking ondersteun. Die gemiddelde responstyd van die chroniese negatiewe groep was die vinnigste wanneer hulle die negatiewe stimulus ontvang het (p = .039) en die van die positiewe groep was die vinnigste wanneer hulle die positiewe stimulus ontvang het (p = .000). Die resultate van ’n tweerigting variansieontleding van chroniese groep en teks het ‘n beduidende interaksie tussen chroniese groep en teks aangedui (p = .000). Wanneer die opwekkingstimuli kongruent met die tekste was, was die chroniese groepe betekenisvol vinniger in die herkenning van stellings van die kongruente teks. Die resultate ondersteun ’n konjunktiewe model van opwekking. Die implikasies van die bevindinge vir die verstaan van die kognitiewe strukture en prosesse betrokke by die verwerking van interpersoonlike inligting word bespreek, met spesifieke verwysing na verhoudingskemas en die gebruiksmodelle in bindingsteorie. Riglyne vir toekomstige navorsing op die gebied word verskaf, en die implikasies vir die praktiese toepassing van die resultate word bespreek.

Tidigare forskning har visat att föräldrars anknytningsstil och personlighet samverkar och påverkar varandra. Men hur ser förhållandena ut mellan anknytningsstil, självkänsla, välmående och personlighet? I den här uppsatsen prövades fem hypoteser huruvida det fanns samband mellan dessa. Detta gjordes via en enkät som mätte de fem grundläggande dimensioner (vänlighet, extraversion, neuroticism, öppenhet och samvetsgrannhet), subjektivt psykiskt välmående, självkänslan samt anknytningen utifrån fem aspekter; två otrygga av karaktären avståndstagande (distans och sakorientering) och två av ängslig/närhetssökande karaktär (relationsfixering och bifallsbehov) samt tillit, den trygga anknytningsstilen som utmärks av ett tryggt och tillitsfullt förhållande till sig själv och till andra. De verktyg som användes var Big Five Inventory (BFI), Välmåendeformuläret, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) samt Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Enkätens reliabilitet var genomgående god. Totalt svarade 853 deltagare på enkäten i åldrarna mellan 20-74 år (M = 43.3, SD = 10.15) där 67.3% var kvinnor. Korrelationsanalyser och multipla regressionsanalysen genomfördes. Hypoteserna fick stöd i studien, anknytningsstilen kan prediceras av personlighetsdrag, välmående och självkänsla. Resultaten visade att anknytningsstilen tillit prediceras med positiva samband av vänlighet, extraversion, självkänsla och välmående samt ett negativt samband av neuroticism, vilket övriga anknytningsstilar inte har. / Previous research has shown that parents' attachment style and personality interact and influence each other. But what do the relationships between attachment style, self-esteem, well-being and personality look like? In this essay, five hypotheses were tested to see how these correlates with each other. This was done by a survey that measured the five basic dimensions (agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, openness and conscientiousness), subjective well-being, self-esteem and attachment style based on five aspects; two insecure of distancing nature and two of an anxious / closeness-seeking nature, the secure attachment style is characterized by a secure relationship with oneself and others. The survey was based on Big Five Inventory (BFI), Questionnaire on well-being, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). The reliability of the survey was good. A total of 853 participants responded to the survey between the ages of 20-74 (M = 43.3, SD = 10.15), where 67.3% were women. Correlation analyzes and multiple regression analyzes were performed. The hypotheses were confirmed, attachment style can be predicted by personality traits, well-being and self-esteem. The results showed that the secure attachment is predicted by and has a positive correlation with agreeableness, extraversion, self-esteem and well-being as well as a negative correlation to neuroticism, which the other attachment styles did not have.

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