Attachment buffers the physiological impact of social exclusion

Abstract

Attachment systems facilitate coping with stress, with previous studies demonstrating attachment figures diminishing subjective, behavioral and neural responses to social pain. Yet little is known about the physiological mechanisms governing this benefit in the context of social exclusion. This study investigated the impact of attachment (vs non-attachment) priming on affective and cardiovascular responses to social exclusion induced by the computerized “Cyberball” ball-tossing game, and the moderating influence of individual differences in attachment style, rejection sensitivity and self-construal. No significant change in high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV)–an index of parasympathetic activity and cardiovagal balance–was observed across the time course in the attachment priming condition, whereas the non-attachment condition showed significant fluctuation in HF-HRV–increasing during Cyberball and decreasing relative to baseline during recovery. Moreover, the benefit afforded by attachment priming on was enhanced amongst participants with lower rejection sensitivity and higher collectivistic self-construal, and those with higher anxious attachment style in the non-attachment prime group showed a trend towards increased HF-HRV during the Cyberball. Results are consistent with Social Baseline Theory, which argues that social proximity–particularly from attachment figures–protects against the metabolic costs associated with strong reactions to stress, including the preservation of cardiovagal homeostasis in this instance. Social attachments may provide an important mechanism to increase adaptive responding to the distressing experience of social exclusion.