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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1453855

Adult Attachment and Dehumanization among Chinese College Students: Trait Attachment and State Attachment Perspectives

Provisionally accepted
Minna Guo Minna Guo Beibei Xu Beibei Xu *Haiyao Wang Haiyao Wang *Zhihao Yan Zhihao Yan Qingsong Sang Qingsong Sang *
  • School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Current social issues such as bullying, online violence, and local conflicts are all hot topics in the field of psychology, and these phenomena are related to dehumanization, but research on dehumanization from a non-western background has been rare. As a key factor influencing individual behavior, attachment has not been incorporated into the relevant research on dehumanization.Therefore, this study presented empirical evidence to explore the relationship between adult attachment (both trait and state) and dehumanization, the samples were college students from China.In Study 1 (N=705), latent profile analysis was employed to identify four types of adult attachment: preoccupied, secure, fearful, and dismissing. The study revealed that these different attachment types have varying impacts on dehumanization. Study 2 (N=281) focused on activating secure attachment and examined the effects of three state attachment types-security, avoidance, and anxiety-on dehumanization. The findings showed that both security and avoidance predict dehumanization. This research established a link between adult attachment and dehumanization, offering new insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying dehumanization. It also suggests new approaches for the prevention and intervention of dehumanization.

    Keywords: Dehumanization, adult attachment, Trait attachment, State attachment, latent profile analysis(LPA)

    Received: 24 Jun 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Xu, Wang, Yan and Sang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Beibei Xu, School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
    Haiyao Wang, School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
    Qingsong Sang, School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China

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