NURTURANCE/LOVE

TRUST

Emotions

Love, sympathy, empathy

Felt security or anxiety

Function

Pair-bonding, nurturance, investment in children

Protection, proximity maintenance; develop default trust posture based on experience

Mechanism

Physiological reward system

Internal working model, a cognitive schema based on the behavior of attachment objects

Environmental input

Parental warmth

Sensitivity and responsiveness

Heritable

Yes

No (emotionality/neuroticism may influence indirectly)

Five factor model

Yes, Factor II

No

Sex differences in infancy

Yes (females > males)

No

Distribution among primates

Pair-bonding rare

Very common

Patterns among autistic children

No affection, sympathy, empathy

Normal attachments