New publication on attachment, empathy and Theory of Mind

In a newly published study, a team of researchers from Leipzig, Erlangen, and Jena in collaboration with Philipp Kanske investigated links between social processing and attachment. They found that attachment security (vs. insecurity) was associated with higher behavioral ToM skills. In addition, self-reported attachment avoidance was negatively correlated with behavioral empathy skills. These findings provide further evidence that interview-based and self-reported measures of attachment capture different facets of attachment that relate to different components of social processing. In particular, individuals with secure, non-avoidant attachment demonstrate social skills that allow them to better understand others' thoughts and to generate positive, caring emotions in the face of others' distress.

The article is available here.