Attachment, Emotion, and Religion

This paper highlights how the development of emotion is intertwined with the development of attachment. I argue, also, that there are certain central emotions and affects associated with particular forms of attachment, which come to define the self in relation to others. Further, this emotion-attachment configuration is expressed in religion, especially in the religious individual's perceived relationship with God. I describe pertinent findings from the scientific literature on the attachment-religion connection indicating that experientially based internal working models of self and other are generalized and lawfully expressed in the context of religion. Thus, attachment-related interactions will affectively color the individual's perceived relationship with God. Yet, God and religion may also provide a source of surrogate attachments, which may aid in repairing negative working models of self and others. Finally, words of caution are offered to prevent misunderstandings of the implications arising from a consideration of how the emotion-attachment configuration is expressed in the context of religion.