Observation of nonverbal expressions as a sign of congruence during the adult attachment interview

The present study seeks to discover if video-recorded Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) can provide objective data that can be used to examine the relationship between the congruency of emotion-evoked nonverbal expression (facial/body expressions) and attachment security. In previous research, Roisman et al. (2004) found that individuals classified with secure/autonomous attachment expressed emotion consistent with the valence of their attachment experiences, and insecure, in particular preoccupied, individuals exhibited discrepancies between emotional expression and attachment experiences. The purpose of this study was to partially replicate and expand upon this research. In order to investigate this, the author created a novel coding system (the Nonverbal Expression Coding Scheme), which gave an overall congruence assessment (either congruent or incongruent) based on individuals’ adjective tones to describe their relationship with their mother (question 3 of the AAI) versus overall valence of facial/body expressions. Results indicated that when secure/congruent and insecure/incongruent association was analyzed, more participants with secure attachment statuses were congruent, and more participants with insecure attachment statuses were also incongruent, which is in line with Roisman et al.’s (2004) findings.