A signal detection analysis of chronic attachment anxiety at speed dating: being unpopular is only the first part of the problem

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2010 Aug;36(8):1024-36. doi: 10.1177/0146167210374238. Epub 2010 Jun 23.

Abstract

Initiating a romantic relationship invokes an approach-avoidance conflict between the desire for affiliation and the fear of rejection; optimally, people should selectively approach potential partners who reciprocate their interest. This may be difficult for anxiously attached people: They may be unpopular, and their ambivalence could lead to either a fearfully selective approach at the cost of missed opportunities or an unselective, indiscriminate approach at the cost of increasing rejection. Using a speed-dating paradigm, data were collected from 116 participants, and a signal detection framework was applied to examine the outcomes. For anxious participants, speed-dating attendance was motivated by loneliness. At speed dating, they were unpopular and unselective; they missed fewer opportunities but made more failed attempts. Anxious men made fewer matches than nonanxious men, whereas anxious women were buffered by having a response bias toward saying "yes" to potential partners. Attachment anxiety predicted outcomes above and beyond the powerful impact of attractiveness.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety Disorders / psychology*
  • Chronic Disease
  • Courtship / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Loneliness / psychology
  • Male
  • Motivation
  • Object Attachment*
  • Rejection, Psychology*
  • Sex Distribution
  • Signal Detection, Psychological*
  • Social Desirability*
  • Young Adult