Psychologists know that “secure attachments”—close, positive relationships such as healthy marriages and good friendships—increase our interest in new experiences. Babies who have learned they can count on their moms, for example, tend to try unfamiliar toys in a lab more readily than do babies whose insecure attachment to caregivers makes them anxious and clingy. A recent set of studies published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin reveals a surprising explanation for this attachment-exploration link: feeling alive and full of energy.

Research participants who recalled a close positive relationship from their lives were later more willing to opt for novel activities like foreign travel—and to report heightened vitality—than participants who had thought about a negative relationship or even a sitcom character. “In insecure relationships, people have to resolve negative emotions because their needs haven't been met, and having to do that can be emotionally draining,” explains lead author Michelle Luke of the University of Southampton in England.

That energy drain leaves you with low vitality; exploring unfamiliar territory feels like it would be overwhelming. Thinking about a good relationship, on the other hand, may give you an energy boost for trying new things.

3 Comments

1. 1. geojellyroll 10:24 PM 7/28/12

   Another article with the depth of let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'.

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2. 2. billsmith 03:10 AM 7/29/12

   The meat of this SciAm article is (I hope) underneath the paywall (though I'm not paying to find out).
   
   True, an experimental physicist might perceive some "hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'" here; social science is often more 'squishy' than physical science. But there's no questioning the fact that Dr. Luke's team has made a good effort at collecting hard data.
   
   It should be noted that the participants in this study were mostly young people from the US and UK. (Age was excluded as an analysis factor, for lack of enough older participants. Male vs female and psych student vs paid subject were determined to be statistically irrelevant to the conclusions.)
   
   The authors also point out that the experiment did *not* directly test the effects of relationship security and energy on willingness to explore. Rather, it tested the effect of *thinking* about one's relationship security and energy on one's *stated* willingness to explore, and with no more than a half hour delay between the two. As with any good scientific paper, the authors suggest some caution in interpreting the results and suggest directions for further study.
   
   
   
   "Your love lifts me higher! The energizing quality of secure relationships" by Luke, et al. is available for free in pre-print:
   
   http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/204753/1/Luke%2C_Sedikides_and_Carnellley_(2012).pdf
   

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3. 3. WizeHowl 10:34 AM 8/10/12

   As I read this blog my first reaction was what a load of BS! But then I started to reflect on my children, and wondered if it could be true. Thanks to the link provided by billsmith I was able to read the whole article and for all the reasons given for avoidance they are very reasons I chose to be adventurous and thrill seeking in my early years. As an abused child I ran away from so many times it became a regular habit, starting from the age of seven until I was fifteen when I finally made it.
   
   But looking back at my children I can see the correlation, my son who was raised by his mother wouldn’t even consider leaving his local suburb unless it absolutely necessary, while my daughter whom I raised in a loving, caring and with an adventurous nature is just the same as me, she has travelled and achieved many things including doing up old cars and showing them, following in her old mans footsteps and riding motorbikes, and even races them. While she was raised with love and care her brother was left to his own volition most of the time by his mother who just didn’t give a damn.
   
   Now it may have been from the nurture of love and care but then again it is more likely that it comes from the environment, not just of a caring relationship, but one in which my daughter was raised around motorbikes, and thrill seeking. I know my eldest sister is just as adventurous as am I, in fact out of seven kids I would say five of us would have an adventurous streak, and we all went through the same abuse by the hands of what was supposed to have been our mother.
   
   
   

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