attachment, attraction, love, intimacy, commitment

• Contact Information


  • Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
  • Tel. Nos.: ([phone], 442-8220; 444-2786; 442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256
  • Fax No.: 442-6268
  • Email: [e-mail]
  • Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph
• Module 5 – PDev’t
• Subject Teacher: HUMSS Faculty
• Edited By: Mr. Erwin John E. Resurreccion
• Personal relationships matter as they contribute to happiness, success, and satisfaction in different facets of life
• Learning Objectives

  1. Distinguish the significant elements in personal relationships

  2. Identify ways of showing love, commitment, and attraction

  3. Appraise one’s relationships and make plans for building responsible future relationships
• Personal relationship


  Relationship closely associated with a person, characterized by privacy, intimacy, and commitment
• Elements of personal relationship

  • Attachment
  • Attraction
  • Love and intimacy
  • Commitment
• Attachment


  Deep and enduring emotional bond between two people seeking closeness and security in each other's presence
• Attachment with the mother is one of the earliest attachments every human being encounters
• Emotional experiences of expectant mothers can affect the child in the womb, leading to predispositions to anxiety
• Attachment styles are shaped by our attachment to our parents
• Attachment styles


  • Secure attachment
  • Insecure attachment
  • Avoidant attachment
  • Ambivalent attachment
• Blekar, Waters, and Wall (1978): ''
• Attachment styles

  • Secure attachment
  • Avoidant attachment
  • Anxious-ambivalent attachment
• Secure attachment


  The primary caregiver is most of the time present and available, meeting all the emotional needs of an infant, providing a sense of security
• Secure attachment


  • Child exposed to this style of attachment will grow up to have more secure and stable relationships
• Avoidant attachment


  The primary caregiver is cold, detached, and unresponsive to a child's needs, leading to premature detachment and self-reliance
• Avoidant attachment


  • Person who experienced this style of attachment may experience unstable relationships in the future, avoid meaningful relationships, and may claim to be a "rugged individual"
• Avoidant attachment


  Echoes the Intimacy vs. Isolation stage of Erik Erikson's theory of human development
• Anxious-ambivalent attachment


  The primary caregiver is inconsistent in presence and meeting a child's emotional needs
• Anxious-ambivalent attachment


  • Person who experienced this style of attachment may develop separation anxieties with a loved one or have mixed feelings between hesitancy and commitment in relationships
• Research has shown that there is hope for adults who received negative attachment styles to change for the better, particularly through genuine and transformative adult love relationships
• Attraction is the first stage in a continuum of stages that lead to intimacy and commitment
• Attraction is primarily based on physiology or certain hormones that persons pick up with their noses
• Attraction may also mean liking genes perceived through physical looks, which are determinants of good health and healthy children
• Both male and female are often attracted to symmetry as an indication of reproductive health
• Pheromones, an odorless chemical found in urine and sweat, are involved in the assessment of a future mate, indicating a person's immune system
• Women prefer men whose immune systems are different from theirs for wider infection resistance
• Women are attracted to men who smell similar to their father, as their genes contain a tried and tested immune system
• A couple with different immune systems can ensure their offspring can ward off a wider range of infections
• Women are attracted to men who smell similar to their father
• Marriage to a man with genes similar but also different from the father ensures better immunity
• Research indicates individuals prefer to marry somebody who resembles one or both of their parents
• An infant who constantly looks at his or her mother's face attaches intimacy to her facial features
• A man will seek someone who has the features of his mother

  Attraction
• A woman will be attracted to someone whose features resemble her father's

  Attraction
• Theories on attraction

  • Transference Effect
  • Propinquity Effect
  • Similarity
  • Reciprocity
• Source: 'Quote'
• Factors influencing liking

  • Transference Effect
  • Propinquity Effect
  • Similarity
  • Reciprocity