AttachmentStyle

About the Attachment Style Test

Attachment theory was developed by British psychiatrist John Bowlby in the 1960s and 1970s and extended by developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth through her landmark Strange Situation studies. The central insight is that the quality of our earliest bonds with caregivers creates an internal working model of relationships — a set of expectations about whether others will be available, responsive, and safe — that persists into adult life. This test uses a framework based on the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) scale, measuring two core dimensions: anxiety about abandonment and avoidance of intimacy.

The four attachment styles

Secure attachment develops when caregivers are consistently responsive and available, producing a person who can be intimate without losing themselves and independent without shutting others out. Anxious attachment (also called preoccupied) develops with inconsistent caregiving, producing hypervigilance to relational signals and chronic fear of abandonment. Avoidant attachment (dismissing) develops with emotionally unavailable caregiving, producing compulsive self-reliance and discomfort with intimacy. Disorganised attachment (fearful-avoidant) develops when caregivers are themselves sources of fear, producing a simultaneous desire for and terror of closeness.

Related tools on Yukti Bodh

• →Dark Triad Test — attachment insecurity and dark triad traits often co-occur and reinforce each other
• →Big Five Personality Test — neuroticism and agreeableness in the Big Five map closely onto attachment dimensions
• →Core Wound Finder — go deeper into the childhood pattern that created your attachment blueprint
• →Escapism Diagnostic — avoidant and disorganised attachment often drive escapism patterns as a proximity-regulation strategy

Yukti Bodh · yuktilabs.in · Psychology · Self-Knowledge · Inner Science