RESEARCH_FILE
Phillip R. Shaver
University of California, Davis
Known for:Co-founding (with Cindy Hazan) the adult attachment research field, then developing (with Mario Mikulincer) the regulatory model showing how attachment hyperactivation drives cognitive distortions in romantic relationships
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I always quit”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“My last attempt is data about that attempt, not a verdict on me.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Choose one low-stakes task and deliberately pause it halfway for two minutes. Leave a visible marker where you stopped, then return and finish only one tiny part. Notice what changed, if anything, after the break.
Key findings
- 1987
With Cindy Hazan, Shaver published the foundational adult attachment paper showing that infant attachment styles map onto adult romantic relationships — with anxiously attached adults (roughly 20% of the sample) reporting preoccupation with abandonment and desire for extreme closeness. Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process ↗
- 2002
With Mario Mikulincer, Shaver described the hyperactivating strategy of anxious attachment — amplifying distress signals, perseverating on threat, clinging — as distinct from the deactivating strategy of avoidant attachment, explaining why anxiously attached individuals attend so selectively and persistently to rejection cues. Attachment-Related Psychodynamics ↗