Adolescent And Adult Attachment Laboratory
University of Utah
Purpose
Our laboratory investigates the formation and functioning of adolescent and adult attachment relationships, focusing particular attention on how relationship experiences shape emotional and psychobiological processes, and the long-term implications for mental and physical well-being. We also investigate how individual differences in emotion regulation (i.e., attachment style, coping style, day-to-day emotional and physiological reactivity, parasympathetic nervous system function, HPA axis reactivity) shape and are shaped by individuals’ closest relationships over the lifespan.
Director
Lisa M. Diamond, Ph.D.
Graduate Students
Angela Hicks, M. A.
Kimberly Otter-Henderson
Current Research Projects
Effects of Work-related Separations on Romantic Attachment
Research on adult attachment bonds suggests that romantic partners are uniquely
able to modulate one another's emotions and physiological states. My research
seeks to clarify this phenomenon by studying how physical separations between
romantic partners (such as those encountered when one partner goes out-of-town)
influence partners' day-to-day emotions, stress reactivity, and the nature and
degree of emotional “coupling” between partners. This study also
investigates whether such separations influence day-to-day HPA axis activity,
and whether separation effects are moderated by individual differences in attachment
style.
Dynamical Systems and Emotion Coregulation
This project uses a new dynamical systems model developed by Dr. Jonathan Butner,
a member of our Social Psychology faculty, to capture linkage between romantic
partners’ rates of emotional fluctuation over time (which we call “affective
coupling”). First, the overall cycle (i.e., velocity, acceleration, damping)
of each partner’s changes in positive and negative affect over a 3-week
period is estimated, and then the Butner model is used to extract the degree
to which partner’s cycles are coupled with one another, and which partner’s
cycle exerts a stronger influence. We are investigating how affective coupling
is associated with relationship quality and with each partner’s personalities
and attachment styles.
Positive Emotions in Parent-Adolescent Interactions
Research increasingly indicates that positive emotions "undo" some
of the detrimental effects of negative emotions on physical and mental functioning
and promote individuals’ social and cognitive functioning. This project
investigates this possibility by testing whether adolescents' day-to-day positive
emotions -- particularly those experienced, exchanged, and reciprocated during
parent-child interactions -- influence youths’ mental and physical well-being,
their coping strategies, and their romantic relationship development over a
5-year period. Additionally, this project will investigate whether the hypothesized
benefits of positive emotion are moderated by biologically-based individual
differences in emotion regulation, specifically parasympathetic nervous system
functioning and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical reactivity to stress.
Contact Us...
Diamond Laboratory
Department of Psychology
380 South 1530 East, Rm 502
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0251
phone (801) 581-3924
fax (801) 581-5841
diamond@psych.utah.edu