Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This authoritative work provides a systematic, comprehensive overview of theory and research on adult attachment. The authors--who have been at the forefront of this rapidly growing field since the concepts of "adult attachment" and "attachment style" were first developed--trace how Bowlby and Ainsworth's original constructs have evolved through the study of adolescents and adults. They review extant measures and analyze how attachment theory has been used to advance scientific understanding of emotions, social cognition, close relationships, psychopathology, and psychotherapy.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• I The Attachment Behavioral System: Normative Processes and Individual Differences
• 1 The Attachment Behavioral System: Basic Concepts and Principles
• 2 A Model of Attachment-System Functioning and Dynamics in Adulthood
• 3 Normative Attachment Processes
• 4 Measurement of Attachment-Related Constructs in Adulthood
• 5 Individual Differences in Attachment-System Functioning: Development, Stability, and Change
• II Intrapersonal Aspects of Attachment-System Functioning
• 6 Attachment-Related Mental Representations of Self and Others
• 7 Attachment Processes and Emotion Regulation
• 8 Attachment Orientations, Behavioral Self-Regulation, and Personal Growth
• III Interpersonal Manifestations of Attachment-System Functioning
• 9 An Attachment Perspective on Interpersonal Regulation
• 10 Attachment Processes and Couple Functioning
• 11 Relations between the Attachment and Caregiving Systems
• 12 Attachment and Sex
• IV Clinical and Organizational Applications of Attachment Theory
• 13 Attachment Bases of Psychopathology
• 14 Implications of Attachment Theory and Research for Counseling and Psychotherapy
• 15 Applications of Attachment Theory and Research in Group and Organizational Settings
• V Epilogue
• 16 Reflections on Attachment Security Appendices
• A Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ)
• B Adult Attachment Scale (AAS)
• C Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ)
• D Relationship Style Questionnaire (RSQ)
• E Experience in Close Relationships Scale (ECR)
• F The ECR-R Items
• G Caregiving Questionnaire

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Mikulincer (Bar-Ilan Univ., Israel) and Shaver (Univ. of California, Davis) offer a superb synthesis of attachment theory, adult-attachment research, and attachment-style research, and they provide a comprehensive conceptual model of how attachment orientations affect adult romantic relationships. The authors begin with a concise review of the Bowlby/Ainsworth model of attachment and then show how research outside this tradition has broadened understanding of human relationships. They devote considerable space to describing common measures of attachment style and to summarizing findings of thousands of studies already conducted in this area. They explore how mental representations of self and Other impact social functioning, and how individual differences in coping strategies, couple dynamics, and caregiving styles combine to impact the nature of close romantic relationships and one's sense of well-being and perceived satisfaction with those relationships. Immediately joining such volumes as Handbook of Attachment, ed. by Shaver and Jude Cassidy (CH, Nov'99, 37-1841), and Adult Attachment, ed. by W. Steven Rholes and Jeffry Simpson (CH, Jun'05, 42-6159), as a valuable resource on how Bowlby's grand theory serves to integrate various approaches to the study of human relationships, this book should further efforts to enhance the discourse among developmental, social, and clinical psychologists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. R. B. Stewart Jr. Oakland University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Mario Mikulincer, PhD, received his doctorate in psychology from Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1985, and was Professor of Psychology there until 1992. In 2007, he established the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, and now serves as Dean of the New School of Psychology. He has published more than 220 articles and book chapters and two books, Human Learned Helplessness: A Coping Perspective (1994) and Prosocial Motives, Emotions, and Behavior: The Better Angels of Our Nature (2009), coauthored with Phillip R. Shaver. Dr. Mikulincer's research interests include attachment styles in adulthood, terror management theory, personality processes in interpersonal relationships, evolutionary psychology, and trauma and posttraumatic processes. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals and as associate editor of Personal Relationships and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . In 2004 he received the EMET Prize in Social Science, sponsored by the A. M. N. Foundation for the Advancement of Science, Art, and Culture in Israel, awarded by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, for Dr. Mikulincer's contribution to psychology.

Phillip R. Shaver, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. He is associate editor of Attachment and Human Development and a member of the editorial boards of several other journals. His books include Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes (1991) and Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications (1999), and he has also published more than 175 articles and book chapters. Dr. Shaver's research focuses on emotions, close relationships, and personality development, viewed from the perspective of attachment theory. He has made notable contributions to the literatures on human emotions, close relationships, and psychology of religion. In 2002 he received a Distinguished Career Award from the International Association for Relationship Research, and in 2006 he was elected President of that organization.