Pehr Granqvist

Stockholm University | SU · Department of Psychology

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

Concerns have been raised regarding misconceptions about attachment theory in child protection settings, but the application of attachment concepts in judicial child protection decisions has not been systematically explored. This study therefore examined the perception and application of attachment concepts in Swedish judicial decision protocols co...

Mary Main played a key role for this study, in which we used an idiographic approach to examine discourse about abuse, trauma, and maltreatment (ATM) among eight mothers with a mild intellectual disability (ID), whose children had been assigned a secure (the "B-group") or disorganized (the "D-group") attachment classification. Thematic analysis yie...

Academic freedom-researchers' freedom to pose research problems, develop methods to test them, and publish the results-is currently threatened in large parts of the world. This is because of multiple coalescing forces operating both within and outside of academia. As with research in general, so with attachment research.

Psychedelics have long been used in religious and healing rituals and a recent wave of scientific research has examined the potent effects of psychedelics, including how the experiences they elicit are often described as spiritual, religious, or mystical (Griffiths et al., 2018). However, while studies have focused on psychedelics’ acute effects, l...

Background and aims Emerging research indicates that psychedelics may have therapeutic potential by fostering meaningful experiences that act as “inflection points” in people's narratives of personal development. However, psychedelic research has largely failed to address pertinent developmental considerations. We investigated whether attachment-re...

The present questionnaire study examined attachment-religion connections among 175 believers within the Læstadian revival movement (Lutheran) in Sweden and Finland. Corroborating previous research findings from other religious populations, our findings strongly supported the idea that attachment security (i.e. positive, non-defensive representation...

Background: Parental mentalising difficulties are robustly linked to caregiving problems. Mothers with intellectual disability are at risk for caregiving problems, but knowledge on their parental mentalising abilities is lacking. The present study aimed to fill this gap. Method: Thirty mothers with mild intellectual disability, and 61 comparison m...

In this conceptual paper, we suggest that attachment theory is a viable framework for understanding key aspects of embodied religious and spiritual cognition, as seen in religious and spiritual metaphors, rituals, anthropomorphisms, and more. We also discuss embodied cognition as part of mystical experiences and other altered states of consciousnes...

In this paper, we set an agenda for a psychedelic science of spirituality and religion based on attachment theory. Attachment theory proposes that people develop internal working models (IWMs) of interactions with others from their relational experiences with caregivers. Such IWMs then function as high-level priors or predictive models, enabling pe...

One’s perceived relationship with God can be understood as an attachment or object relation, and this relationship can have clinical relevance, such as for depressive conditions. We investigated changes in attachment to God among participants in a 3-month inpatient psychodynamic therapy program. We then linked changes in the God relation to changes...

Research has suggested highly elevated levels of interpersonal trauma (IPT) among parents with intellectual disabilities (ID), and that such experiences may contribute to the caregiving and child developmental problems often seen in this population. Conflicting results have however been reported, and there is no systematic review on this matter. Th...

Children of parents with intellectual disability (ID) are at risk of behavior problems, but few studies have systematically examined contributions from caregiving behavior and contextual factors. This cross-sectional matched comparison study examined whether the children display elevated behavior problems, and analyzed contributions from maternal s...

In molti contesti professionali, compreso quello del Tribunale per i minorenni, si fa riferimento alla teoria dell'attaccamento e alla relativa ricerca, con fraintendimenti ampiamente diffusi che spesso si traducono in applicazioni scorrette. La finalità di questa dichiarazione di consenso è, pertanto, quella di migliorarne la comprensione, contras...

Scholarly discussion suggests prevalent, overconfident use of attachment classifications in child protection (CP) investigations but no systematic research has examined actual prevalence, nor the methods used to derive such classifications or their interpretations. We aimed to cover this gap using survey data from a nationally representative sample...

Social and political trust are crucial for societal well-being and are linked to lower levels of corruption as well as to the size of the welfare state. Interpersonal trust is shaped through attachment-related experiences in close interpersonal relationships. However, previous research has not linked these two strands of research, yielding an impor...

Previous research has linked people’s relational attachment orientations to emotional reactions and coping during crises, and to social trust and trust in societal institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis for which collective efforts, such as social distancing, are necessary to stop the spread of the virus. During previous pandemics,...

La théorie et les recherches sur l’attachement sont utilisées dans de nombreux cadres d’application, y compris dans les tribunaux compétents en matière familiale [1], mais les incompréhensions sont fréquentes et sources d’erreurs lorsqu’il s’agit de les mettre en pratique. L’objectif de cet article de consensus est donc d’accroître la compréhension...

In molti contesti professionali, compreso quello del Tribunale per i minorenni, si fa rife-rimento alla teoria dell'attaccamento e alla relativa ricerca, con fraintendimenti ampiamente diffusi che spesso si traducono in applicazioni scorrette. La finalità di questa dichiarazione di consenso è, pertanto, quella di migliorarne la comprensione, contra...

Attachment theory, research, and assessments have become increasingly applied to settle child custody cases. We discuss such applications in relation to admissibility criteria for scientific evidence and testimony proposed by Faigman et al. (2014). We argue that attachment theory and research can provide valid “framework evidence”; group-based atta...

In this paper, we set an agenda for a psychedelic science of spirituality and religion, based on a synthesis of attachment theory with the Relaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics (REBUS) model. Attachment theory proposes that people develop internal working models (IWMs) of interactions with others from their relational experiences with caregivers. Such...

In this paper, we set an agenda for a psychedelic science of spirituality and religion, based on a synthesis of attachment theory with the Relaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics (REBUS) model. Attachment theory proposes that people develop internal working models (IWMs) of interactions with others from their relational experiences with caregivers. Such...

La teoría y la investigación sobre el apego se utilizan en muchos contextos aplicados, incluidos los juzgados de familia, pero hay malentendidos muy extendidos y que a veces dan lugar a aplicaciones erróneas. El objetivo de este documento de consenso es, por lo tanto, mejorar la comprensión, contrarrestar la desinformación y dirigir el uso de la te...

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between changes in depressive symptoms and the capacity to mentalize over the course of a 3-month inpatient psychodynamic therapy in a sample of 56 patients with depression. Depressive symptoms and mentalizing were assessed weekly during treatment and at 1-year follow-up with the Beck Depression I...

Prior research indicates links between parents' experiences of interpersonal trauma and emotion-interpretation difficulties, and between such difficulties and child attachment insecurity and disorganization. Although mothers with mild levels of intellectual disability (ID) are at heightened risk for trauma and emotion-interpretation difficulties, a...

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, e...

In response to Cornerstones of attachment research and the target articles, I reflect on three questions. First, what is "attachment"? Although a natural kind, I argue against an essentialist understanding (i.e., in terms of necessary/sufficient conditions for class membership). Instead, the attachment concept must be allowed to have fuzzy boundari...

Attachment theory deals with the development and dynamics of interpersonal affectional bonds. It also provides a framework for understanding individuals’ relationship with God, which is central to religion. We review basic concepts of attachment theory and survey research that has examined religion both in terms of normative attachment processes an...

Synthesizing diverse strands of theory and research, this compelling book explores the psychology of religion and spirituality through an innovative attachment lens. Pehr Granqvist examines the connections between early caregiving experiences, attachment patterns, and individual differences in religious cognition, experience, and behavior. The func...

I argue that attachment relationships, and particularly secure ones, are important contexts for social learning and cultural transmission. Bowlby originally treated the attachment-behavioral system as serving only one evolutionary function: protection, via physical proximity. Yet the time is ripe to consider learning, especially social learning, as...

Attachment theory emphasizes the importance to human beings of socio-emotional bonds with available, sensitive, and supportive others for effective emotion regulation, mental health, and psychosocial functioning. Originally, the theory focused on the quality of the infant–parent relationship, but it was extended to friendships and romantic relation...

The poster presents a preliminary study, examining emotion-attribution to infant faces among mothers with mild intellectual disability (ID), in relation to their experiences of trauma, and their children's attachment representations. The study also included a matched comparison group, consisting of mothers without ID. Mothers with mild ID were sign...

Prior research shows that being anxiously and avoidantly attached to God is associated with psychologically problematic outcomes including depressive feelings. However, a clear understanding of how these insecure attachments to God are associated with depressive feelings is still missing. Therefore, a longitudinal study among 329 nursing home resid...

Objective: This longitudinal qualitative study explores the impact of natural disasters on religious attachment (perceived relationship with God). We sought to validate and conceptually extend the religion-as-attachment model in a postdisaster context. Method: At 4 weeks (T1; n = 36) and 6 months postdisaster (T2; n = 29), survivors of the 2016...

In the service of children's best interests, we argue for a sharpening of the evidentiary standards used in family court decision making, from preponderance of (occasionally substandard) evidence to "beyond a reasonable doubt." Second, we call for a move in child protection cases from static diagnoses (e.g., attachment classifications) to assessmen...

We studied attachment-related variations in the process of apostasy (abandonment of religion) and compared these variations to those occurring in religious conversion. A sample of 280 Israeli Jews who had undergone religious change (apostasy or conversion) completed scales assessing attachment orientations, themes/motives and other characteristics...

We express serious doubt and cautioning regarding Spieker and Crittenden's (2010) claim that attachment measures associated with the dynamic‐maturational model of attachment and adaptation (DMM; Crittenden, 2016) can be used for court decision‐making. We demonstrate, using Crittenden's and coworkers’ (e.g., Spieker & Crittenden, 2010) own data, tha...

We propose an integrative framework, advancing attachment as a vital factor in the development and maintenance of meaning throughout life. First, early attachment experiences provide a foundation for recognizing patterns and acquiring a sense of order and coherence. Furthermore, interactions with sensitive attachment figures stimulate mentalization...

When in a stressful situation, access to adult attachment figures (e.g., romantic partners) is an important means by which adults regulate stress responses. The practice of smelling a partner's worn garment is reported as a self-treatment against stress. Here, we experimentally determined whether exposure to a partner's body odor attenuates adults'...

When in a stressful situation, access to adult attachment figures (e.g., romantic partners) is an important means by which adults regulate stress responses. The practice of smelling a partner’s worn garment is reported as a self-treatment against stress. Here, we experimentally determinted whether exposure to a partner’s body odor attenuates adults...

Intranasal oxytocin (OT) has previously been found to increase spirituality, an effect moderated by OT-related genotypes. This pre-registered study sought to conceptually replicate and extend those findings. Using a single dose of intranasal OT vs placebo (PL), we investigated experimental treatment effects, and moderation by OT-related genotypes o...

In our response to “the Circle of Place Spirituality” we note that, in revised form, the presented model could make a contribution to the attachment-religion framework. We contend that exploration of places may facilitate a sense of closeness to God. However, we raise conceptual concerns regarding “attachment to place” and we reflect on the fuzzy b...

Intranasal oxytocin (OT) has previously been found to increase spirituality, an effect moderated by OT-related genotypes. This preregistered study sought to conceptually replicate and extend those findings. Using a single dose of intranasal OT versus placebo (PL) we investigated experimental treatment effects, and moderation by OT-related genotypes...

Most of the world’s population identify as religious or spiritual, and most religiously affiliated believers identify with one of the world’s major monotheistic traditions: Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Within each of these traditions, especially Christianity, one important aspect of many believers’ religion/spirituality is how they view and rel...

Prior research, using correlational and self-report methodologies, suggests that religion and public welfare function as alternate security/insurance systems. Consequently in countries with more expansive public welfare systems people report less religiosity. The present studies expand this field by utilizing experimental methodology and by replica...

Disorganized/Disoriented (D) attachment has seen widespread interest from policy makers, practitioners, and clinicians in recent years. However, some of this interest seems to have been based on some false assumptions that (1) attachment measures can be used as definitive assessments of the individual in forensic/child protection settings and that...

Disorganized/disoriented (D) attachment has seen widespread interest from policy-makers, practitioners and clinicians in recent years. However some of this interest seems to have been based on some false assumptions: that (1) attachment measures can be used as definitive assessments of the individual in forensic/child protection settings, and that...

The development of children´s ability to identify facial emotional expressions has long been suggested to be experience-dependent, with parental caregiving as an important influencing factor. This study attempts to further this knowledge by examining disorganization of the attachment system as a potential psychological mechanism behind aberrant car...

he charges that our field must now consider " the myriad ways that nature and nurture interact to shape religious and spiritual development (RSD) ". It is indeed " maddening " to think that this hasn't yet happened. We also appreciate many important nuances and additions in Boyatzis' commentary, which we – partly due to space constraints – failed t...

Individual variations in attachment denote interindividual variations in the organization or quality of attachment behavior in relation to the attachment figure, particularly observable when the attachment system is activated following external or internal cues of threat. Individual variations in attachment are typically described using two dimensi...

Background: Scientific knowledge on the quality of caregiving/maternal sensitivity among mothers with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited and subject to many methodological shortcomings, but seems to suggest that these mothers are less sensitive than mothers without intellectual disabilities. Methods: In this matched-comparison study...

We consider nurture's (including culture's) sculpting influences on the evolved psychological predispositions that are expressed in religious and spiritual (R&S) development. An integrated understanding of R&S development requires a move away from the largely one‐sided (nature‐ or ‐nurture) and additive (nature + nurture) accounts provided in the e...

This chapter is divided into five major sec- tions. In the first, we argue that people’s perceived relationships with God meet the defining criteria of attachment relationships reasonably well, and hence function psychologically much as other attachments do. We examine in the second sec- tion lifespan maturational issues involved in the development...