The Use of a Modified Stroop Task to Assess Attentional Biasing Related to Adult Attachment Classification

Adult attachment styles can be thought of as representational schemata for how an individual interprets other people's actions, relationships, and emotions in close relationships. This study utilized an emotional Stroop task that consisted of different word/letter stimuli to investigate the effect of attentional biasing, in the form of the interference effect, on reaction times. Five measures of adult attachment were used that varied based on whether attachment was categorized or placed on a dimension. Contrary to expectation, insecurely attached individuals did not have longer reaction times on negative stimuli; however, negative word stimuli did cause an interference effect relative to neutral and letter string stimuli for all participants. A sentence completion priming task which allowed for self-relevant relationship priming was also administered. No differences on reaction times were found for participants who were primed and participants who were not primed. Although a relationship between adult attachment style and attentional biasing on the Stroop was not found, further research is necessary.