You Feel so Familiar, You Feel so Different: A Controlled Adaptive Network Model for Attachment Patterns as Adaptive Mental Models

The interactions between a person and his or her primary caregiver shape the attachment pattern blueprint of how this person behaves in intimate relationships later in life. This attachment pattern serves as a mental model that includes both a mental model of the person her or himself and a mental model of the other person. While this attachment pattern has a lifelong effect on an individual, few studies have been conducted on how this attachment style evolves throughout a person’s life. This chapter discusses how a controlled adaptive network was designed and simulated to provide insights into how an attachment pattern is created and how this pattern then evolves as the person develops new intimate relationships at an older age. Two simulated scenarios are described: the first concerns interactions with securely attached persons, and the second scenario simulates an individual with the anxious-avoidant attachment pattern who encounters a securely attached person