Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love

For those with an anxious attachment style, Levine and Heller claim that an individual’s choice of romantic partner can greatly influence one’s happiness. They chronicle the story of Emily, a colleague of Levine whose personality changes rapidly after beginning a relationship with her boyfriend David. Obsessed with always maintaining contact with David, Emily displays an activated attachment system. Levine and Heller attribute this to a perceived threat to her relationship. Levine and Heller explain that, while all people with attachment styles may experience activated attachment systems, those with anxious attachment styles are especially sensitive.

To demonstrate this sensitivity, Levine and Heller cite a study that measured “the vigilance to social cues of the anxious attachment style” (79). When subjects with anxious attachment styles were asked to pinpoint a subtle change in emotion, they were able to recognize the onset and offset of emotions on a face earlier than those with other attachment styles. Although subjects with an anxious attachment style react quickly, they also “tend to misinterpret people’s emotional state” (80). Levine and Heller warn readers with an anxious attachment style of the dangers of reacting quickly and misjudging emotions.