SUBJECT

Title

Attachment Theories and Psychology of Close Relationships

Type of instruction

lecture

Level

master

Part of degree program
Credits

4

Recommended in

Semester 2

Typically offered in

Spring semester

Course description

Aim of the course:

to analyse the effect of early attachment schemas on interpersonal and social attitudes from the point of view of adult attachment styles and interpersonal relationships. We will discuss the cultural and personal determinants of long-term attachments, the reasons and consequences of ostracism as well as the psychology of attachment losses and the dynamics of attachment in psychotherapy.

  • Learning outcome, competences

knowledge:

  • is acquainted with the most important theoretical and research results of attachment theories
  • is familiar with the effect of schemas developed through early attachments on later relationships and on worldviews and social attitudes
  • is acquainted with the importance of the concepts of transference and counter-transference in psychotherapy

attitude:

  • sensitive to the diverse patterns of close relationships and family structures across and within cultures
  • sensitive to social construction of gender role norms and to different sexual orientations while analysing close relationships and roles

skills:

  • able to recognise the different attachment styles
  • able to reflect on own attachment style
  • able to apply the approaches of attachment theories in research

Content of the course

Topics of the course

  • Introduction
  • Attachment theories: antecedents, empirical research and main assumptions
  • Attachment and the self: autonomous and relational self
  • Researching adult attachment styles, cross-cultural differences
  • Attachment and social attitudes (authoritarianism, prejudices)
  • Attachment and empathy, altruism and prosocial behavior
  • Social ostracism
  • Long-term attachments: love and friendship
  • Mate preferences, roles and relationship scripts: cultural differences and similarities
  • Non-traditional families, non-traditional attachments: jigsaw families, LMBTQ relationships
  • Long-distance attachments (family, friendship, love relationships across the miles)
  • Attachment losses: grief and letting go
  • Attachment and psychotherapy: transference and counter-transference
  • Correcting attachment styles: in therapy and beyond
  • Written test

Learning activities, learning methods

  • reflection on literature in writing
  • small group discussions
  • lectures

Evaluation of outcomes

Learning requirements, mode of evaluation, criteria of evaluation:

requirements:

  • 60 % written test
  • 40 % essay (the cultural representations of attachment and ostracism, applied naive theories and schemas)

mode of evaluation: complex (written and oral)

criteria of evaluation:

  • adequate knowledge of the literature
  • application of the literature on analysing the cultural represenations of attachment and ostracism (essay)
Readings

Compulsory reading list

  • Cassidy, J. – Shaver, Ph. R. (2016) Handbook of attachment. Theory, research, and clinical applications. 3rd Edition. The Guilford Press
  • Forgas, J. P. – Fitness, J. (eds.) (2015). Social Relationships. Cognitive, Affective, and Motivational Processes. Psychology Press
  • Williams, K.D. – Forgas, J.P – von Hippel, W. (2005). The Social Outcast. Ostracism, Rejection, and Bullying. Psychology Press

Recommended reading list

  • Kast, V. (1993). A Time to Mourn: Growing Through the Grief Process. Daimon Verlag
  • Yalom, I.D. (2000). Seven Advanced Lessons in the Therapy of Grief. In Momma and the Meaning of Life: Tales of Psychotherapy. Harper Collins, 83-154.
  • Badinter, E. (1982). The Myth of Motherhood: An Historical View of the Maternal Instinct. Condor Books
  • Rudman, L.A. – Glick, P. (2008). The Social Psychology of Gender. How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press