Читать книгу The Handy Psychology Answer Book - Lisa J. Cohen - Страница 177

Peter Fonagy and Mary Target have added to attachment literature with their dual concepts of self-reflective functioning and mentalization. They propose that security of attachment in adulthood involves the capacity for self-reflective functioning, which means the ability to reflect upon one’s emotional experiences in a thoughtful and coherent way. The ability to mentalize emotional experiences involves the capacity to represent one’s own and others’ mental experiences; that is, to understand and grasp the nature of emotional experience. In their view, the child’s security of attachment is not only dependent on the mother’s sensitive behavior but also on her psychological sensitivity. When the mother can keep her child’s subjective experience in mind, she teaches the child that emotions can both be understood and communicated. The child’s development of self-reflective functioning is therefore dependent upon the mother’s mentalization of the child’s experiences. Fonagy and Target have applied these concepts to their work with adults with severe personality disorders, many of whom sorely lack both self-reflective and mentalization abilities.

Does a parent’s attachment style necessarily translate into a child’s attachment style?

There is a strong relationship between security of attachment in parents and security of attachment in their children. Secure adults are more likely to raise secure children and insecure adults are more likely to raise insecure children. However, the type of insecure attachment in adults is less strongly correlated with the type of insecure attachment in their children. Some dismissing mothers may have resistant children and some preoccupied mothers may have dismissing children.