Am I safe around you? Attachment figure activation increases perceived security but does not reduce negative interpretations of neutral expressions.

Abstract

Child maltreatment (CM) is associated with social problems, such as loneliness and isolation. One factor that might contribute to these problems is the tendency for individuals who have experienced CM to interpret neutral facial expressions as negative (i.e., negativity bias). Previous research has shown that mental representations of an attachment figure (AF) can lead to positive evaluations of neutral stimuli. We assessed whether such representations can also counteract negativity bias among individuals who experienced CM. Adults (N = 159) with and without a CM history completed a facial emotion recognition task. Prior to that, 53 participants with a CM history imagined an AF, and the rest (n = 49), as well as controls with no CM history (n = 57), imagined a neutral person. Participants in the AF group, d = 0.36, p < .001, but not the two other groups, demonstrated increased self-reported security in response to the imagination task. However, imagining an AF did not lead to stronger vagal responses to the imagination task than imagining a neutral person nor did it counteract negativity bias; compared to controls, individuals who experienced CM interpreted neutral expressions more often as contempt, βs .46-.48; ps = .016-.019, regardless of whether they imagined an AF or a neutral person. Thus, imagining an AF may be a helpful intervention to increase momentary feelings of security in individuals with a CM history. However, alternative-possibly body-oriented-interventions and their potential to reduce socially relevant alterations (e.g., negativity bias) on a behavioral level should be explored.