PPT Slide
- The prompt word method does not substantially tap general verbal ability. Secure base scriptedness scores were not correlated with the “park” or “mall” script contained in the two neutral (non-attachment) stories. Nor were they correlated with the Henman-Nelson test of mental ability.
These findings demonstrate the usefulness of a narrative assessment technique to examine the cognitive underpinnings of adult attachment representations. Furthermore, the fact that AAI coherence substantially reflects knowledge and access to a generalized secure base script sets the stage for testing a wide range of hypotheses about attachment representations, their origins and the mechanisms by which they change with development.
This study represents the first time that specific cognitive features (secure scripts) have been directly linked to secure attach-ment in adults. The secure base script has already been linked to child security in the Waters, Rodrigues, and Ridgeway (1998) reanalysis of children’s story completions from the Bretherton, Ridgeway, and Cassidy (1990) narrative attachment study. This important parallel supports the hypothesis that attachment scripts underlie attachment representations from childhood to adulthood.