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https://doi.org/10.1177/0084672419833448
Archive for the Psychology of Religion
2019, Vol. 41(1) 12 –25
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0084672419833448
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Corresponding author:
Victor Counted, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW
2751, Australia.
Email: connect@victorcounted.org
Place Spirituality:
An attachment perspective
Victor Counted
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Western Sydney University, Australia
Hetty Zock
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract
The expression of attachment to the divine in certain places among different groups has been documented by
anthropologists and sociologists for decades. However, the psychological processes by which this happens are
not yet fully understood. This article focuses on the concept of ‘place spirituality’ as a psychological mechanism,
which allows the religious believer or non-believer to achieve an organised attachment strategy, involving the
interplay of place and spiritual attachment. First, place spirituality is considered as an experience that satisfies
the attachment relationship criteria in that geographic places and divine entities can be perceived as ‘objects’
of attachment. Second, it is proposed that the maturational aspects of the attachment repertoire in adults
make the place spirituality experience possible since adults’ cognitive abilities are much wider than those of
children and can include relationships to geographical spaces and invisible divine entities. Finally, the theme
of place spirituality is explored to further position the concept as a relational paradigm for understanding the
relationship between place experiences and spiritual attachment.
Keywords
Adult attachment theory, attachment to God, place attachment, place spirituality
Introduction
Days after the series of coordinated terror attacks of 13 November 2015, in Paris, which left 130
victims dead, many Parisians were seen singing spiritual songs in public places1 as they honoured
those who had lost their lives, and at the same time confronted their own fears (CNN, 2015). A
Paris resident interviewed by CNN was reported as saying that after the attack most of the people
she knew turned to religion and began to pray ‘even [though] they don’t believe in God’2 (CNN,
2015). This sentiment revives the long-standing discourse on the relationship between religion and
place, showing that emotional bonds to place (Low & Altman, 1992), and attachment-based spir-
ituality (Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990), are important lenses for understanding place spirituality
(PS) as a form of religious behaviour and representation (Counted, 2018).
Counted and Zock 13
This understanding of PS as an attachment-based model is reflected in a study by Mazumdar
and Mazumdar (2004), who examined the relationship between religion and emotional attachment
to place, arguing that the meanings given to certain places can be a result of the sacred status of
such settings which bring individuals closer to a divine entity or a sacred object. Counted and Watts
(2017, p. 219) also reason that PS is an ancient phenomenon, based on several biblical accounts of
its importance. For example, in the Old Testament there are attachments to Jerusalem, Canaan and
Mount Sinai, even though they differ among themselves in interesting ways. Attachment to Canaan
plays a key role in the nationhood of Israel, and exile from it is considered idolatrous and traumatic.
Mount Sinai was seen as the seat of authority and a place for experiencing Jehovah. Jerusalem is a
place for cultural creation and identity formation for the Israelites. However, in the New Testament,
a different understanding of PS is seen as the early Christians developed reverence for Jerusalem
as the place of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the belief that their faith transcends attachment to
any particular place (Counted & Watts, 2017).
The case for PS in the Paris event above, and in the studies by Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2004) and
Counted and Watts (2017), provide insights for understanding the relationship between religion and
place. For example, they show how the aesthetics and features of a place can facilitate devotion to the
sacred and the ways in which religious believers and non-believers relate to the sacred in a particular
geographic setting through events (e.g. war conflicts, terror attacks, violence, protests), rituals, artefacts
and storytelling. They also show how religious belief systems (e.g. Christianity) may transcend attach-
ment to any particular place (Counted & Watts, 2017), and position place as the by-product of an emo-
tional attachment to God (Counted, 2018). These conceptualisations consider PS experience as the
attachment bonds established between individuals, places, and their religious objects of attachment.
Nonetheless, PS remains an important undiluted area of conversation in the psychology of reli-
gion research. This is because the concept of PS can help us to see how the divine is present in a
place through the experiences of people and how several core aspects of religious behaviour repre-
sent real manifestations of PS. In this article, we propose that such experiences can provide a
unique window into the maturational aspects of attachment processes in adulthood, showing how
relationships can be maintained with spatial settings and religious objects of attachment.
While drawing on several studies (e.g. Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978, 1982; Counted
& Watts, 2017; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990; Low & Altman, 1992;
Scannell & Gifford, 2014), we propose an understanding of religious behaviour in terms of PS,
which integrates with the relationship with attachment surrogates (e.g. a place with a divine entity).
This perspective is based on the idea that adults can have more and richer attachments than those
experienced by infants towards their parents. We argue that such adult attachments can be expressed
through different patterns. For example, individuals can become attached to people who are impor-
tant to them in a place, architectural designs of a place and meanings they attribute to a place. Any
of these relational connections may lead to spiritual significance and meaningful spiritual experi-
ences that are symbolic of life changes, in such a way that place is imagined by the individual as
an object of attachment. This article offers ways in which these different PS experiences can be
understood in relation to two separate developmental theories: attachment to God and place attach-
ment. In the final section, an attempt is made to integrate both theories in order to conceptualise PS
as the relationship between place experiences and spiritual attachment that involves maintaining a
relationship with a divine entity or sacred object.
Relational spirituality and attachment to God
There is a widespread misconception about the meaning of religion, such that it is often con-
ceptualised to mean beliefs about the sacred. Watts (2017) has contested this view, arguing that
14 Archive for the Psychology of Religion 41(1)
religion is, at the core, different from spirituality. The former involves religious practices and
institutionalised character of religious beliefs, whereas the latter is about belief and the personal
character of spiritual transcendence. McCarroll, O’Connor and Meakes (2005) and Piedmont
(1999) reason that spirituality differs in many ways from religion due to its changing, dynamic
constitutive trait and attribute as a broad-based relational domain and language term that involves
universality, prayer fulfilment and connectedness. These two contrasting views are important for
our study, as we focus on spirituality, not religion, as a relational domain that captures important
psychological qualities that are important for personal development, self-transcendence and
meaning-making (Benson, Roehlkepartain, & Rude, 2003).
Literature on the psychology of religion also offers different interpretations of relational spiritu-
ality. For example, Tomlinson, Glenn, Paine, and Sandage (2016) indicate that the various ways in
which relational spirituality has been interpreted over the past few decades show that many con-
ceptualisations on the topic often overlap with each other. After a careful examination of the differ-
ent propositions on the subject, it seems that relational spirituality is mostly discussed within two
categories: one interprets spirituality as a cognitive appraisal of existential issues, and the other
sees it as experiential knowledge of the divine. The former draws mostly on Fairbairn (1952),
whose object relations theory recognises relational spirituality in connection to the cognitive
appraisal of stress and coping when one experiences being in a relationship with the divine. Rizzuto
(1979) describes this aspect of relational spirituality as God representations. Davis, Moriarty, and
Mauch (2013) refer to this cognitive representation of the divine as the head knowledge of God,
through which the relational dynamics with a religious figure or sacred object serve as a coping
mechanism for appraising stressors and interpersonal struggles.
On the other hand, the second category of relational spirituality is seen in the application of
psychoanalytic theory and developmental psychology, in particular attachment theory, and often
interpreted as the heart-knowledge of God (Davis et al., 2013). Kirkpatrick and Shaver (1990)
introduced this heart-knowledge of God in the study of the psychology of religion, and it was fur-
ther developed by Granqvist and colleagues (1998, 2009) and Granqvist, Mikulincer, and Shaver
(2010). Considerable evidence supports this second view of relational spirituality, which is shaped
primarily through implicit relational and experiential representations of the divine that are essential
to faith development (Hall, 2004, 2007).
Drawing on the two relational traditions mentioned above, it is argued that relational spirituality is
not learned but shaped in the course of one’s developmental processes and references to relational
experiences with the self, a religious figure and close others. Kirkpatrick (1994, 1995, 2005) first pio-
neered the idea that relational spirituality can best be understood through the lens of attachment psy-
cho-biology. He argued that a relationship with a divine entity (e.g. God) can be explained as an
attachment process due to the bond of affection between the believer and their religious figure in terms
of adaptation to a variety of biological and environmental factors. In other words, the same panoply of
feelings that accompany human attachment figures is present in divine attachment figures. Granqvist
and Kirkpatrick (2016) concur with this understanding of relational spirituality in which core aspects
of religious behaviour represent manifestations of attachment processes, particularly in adults, even
though most religious figures may be physically invisible (e.g. God, Jesus, Mary, Allah, etc.).
The application of adult attachment theory in the study of the psychology of religion has been
received by religious scholars with both doubt and interest. Part of the reason for this theoretical
anxiety is because most divine entities are often physically invisible as human attachment figures.
Despite this argument, Cicirelli (2004) reasons that adults are likely to form attachments to divine
entities and sacred objects due to their increased cognitive abilities over children, and this may
depend on the knowledge of the whereabouts of their objects of attachment to maintain proximity.
Luna (2009) has also argued that adults have stronger cognitive control and motivation than infants,
Counted and Zock 15
which may guide their behaviour and enhance their affective processes. The ability to maintain
attachment to physically invisible divine entities is a result of the cognitive control in most adults
that may be associated with their response inhibition and working memory (Fuster, 1997a, 1997b).
These two brain functions are central components of prefrontal cortex and executive function,
which are peculiar to adults and only develop during adolescence (Luna, Padmanabhan, & O’Hearn,
2010; Miller & Cohen, 2001). Response inhibition enables adults to voluntarily select a specific
goal-oriented task while suppressing responses that may be contrary to the task. Working memory
allows the individual to retain important information in the brain in order to manage a planned,
goal-directed response (Luna, Garver, Urban, Lazar, & Sweeney, 2004). Both cognitive processes
(i.e. response inhibition and working memory) work together to support individual goals that are
driven by (attachment) behaviour. One of the aims of such behaviour is to attain a sense of ‘felt
security’ through visual and imaginary proximity with objects of attachment (e.g. God) that may be
non-observable or mystical (Sroufe & Waters, 1977).
Central to most monotheistic religions is the belief in God, with whom one seeks a personal
relationship as a faithful follower. Proximity to God is maintained and sustained through having
a relationship that might require commitment to Him through religious involvements such as
prayer, fasting, scripture reading, rituals, meditation and other demonstrations of religious
attachment behaviour. These might be some of the ways in which religious believers maintain
attachment to the divine due to their increased cognitive abilities. This cognitive control enables
them to have attachment satisfaction through visual or verbal contact with non-corporeal divine
entities simply through the belief in their existence. In Christianity, for example, the relationship
dimension with God, or Jesus Christ, is central to how believers evaluate their faith and is acti-
vated through perceiving the divine based on attachment-related descriptors as a ‘benevolent’,
‘comforting’, ‘loving’ and ‘protective’ figure, as opposed to being ‘unreachable’ and ‘imper-
sonal’ (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Biblical history is full of stories of people’s dynamic relationship with God Jehovah as a safe
haven to turn to for protection and hope, and as a secure base for exploring the world of danger and
individual growth. The psalms of King David signify these divine attributes of God as omnipresent
(cf. Psalm 139:7–10), omnipotent (cf. Psalm 33:6) and loving (cf. Psalm 136:26; Psalm 103:8)
attachment figure. This perception of the divine may be different in Islam and Judaism. Muslim
believers relate to God as an attachment figure differently than Christians, in that the Islamic faith
teaches that the best way to have a relationship with God is to obey his commands because God is
beyond comprehension. Nonetheless, Bonab, Miner, and Proctor (2013) argue that Allah can also
function as an attachment figure for Muslim believers and that most of the Islamic rituals and
behaviours are based on seeking proximity to Allah. Bonab et al. (2013) further suggest five types
of Islamic texts which posit Allah as an attachment figure: (1) the divine attributes or names of
Allah that signify he is caring and nourishing, (2) Quranic stories that denote the dynamic attach-
ment relationship between Allah and his prophets/servants, (3) Quranic verses that support the
caring nature of Allah, (4) Islamic sayings and prophetic nuggets that underscore Allah’s caring
attribute, and (5) individual supplications that reveal Muslim believers’ relationship with Allah.
In addition to the examples above, the expression of a personal relationship with God in Judaism
is seen as a covenant relationship. According to Counted and Watts (2017), this relationship is
related to the Jewish national identity and established in the context of place, such that exile from
it (i.e. the Promised Land of Canaan) is both traumatic and idolatrous. The theme of ‘place’ is
important in the Jewish spiritual life, even though this has often been ignored. The story of Jewish
attachment spirituality starts with the story of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, who was
commanded by God Jehovah to ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s
house, to a land that I will show you’ (Gen. 12:1). Abraham’s journey, and that of his children’s
16 Archive for the Psychology of Religion 41(1)
children’, to find the Promised Land of Canaan is a chronicle that signifies God’s caring nature as
both an attachment figure and as one who provides for and protects his children in the wilderness
(Counted & Watts, 2017).
The activation of the attachment system is based on the interaction between the individual and
their attachment figure. Frequent repetition of this interaction generates an unconscious psycho-
logical framework of attachment relationship known as the internal working model (IWM), which
is the manifestation of a long-term bond with an attachment figure. The IWM also serves as the
framework for exploring relationships with attachment surrogates in relation to the quality of their
interaction. When the quality of interaction with the attachment figure is compromised by negative
affective states, the attachment is described as insecure: anxious/ambivalent, avoidant and dismiss-
ive or disorganised (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Main & Solomon, 1990). However, when the quality
of care in the relationship is positively affected by the interaction with the attachment figure, the
attachment is described as secure (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The IWM is the ‘foundation for under-
standing how attachment processes operate in adult relationships’ (Pietromonaco & Barrett, 2000,
p. 155). It is also the basis upon which attachment scholars such as Kirkpatrick (1992) and col-
leagues (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990) have formulated their theo-
ries of proximity behaviour in attachment–religion processes.
A divine entity can assume the role of an attachment figure (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016),
especially in situations where the primary attachment figure is no longer available. Kirkpatrick and
Shaver (1990) describe this as the compensation model, arguing that a history of unsatisfactory
attachments to primary caregivers may predispose the individual to form an attachment to a divine
attachment surrogate who can compensate for their insecure attachments. This ‘compensation’
model of religious attachment was first reported in the findings of Kirkpatrick and Shaver (1990)
and has been strongly supported by additional quantitative (e.g. Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2004;
Halama et al., 2013; Hall, Fujikawa, Halcrow, & Hill, 2009; Schnitker et al., 2012) and qualitative
studies (e.g. Counted, 2016a; Proctor, Miner, McLean, & Bonab, 2009).
Another proposed model of religious attachment, the correspondence hypothesis, shows how
the religious believer models their previous attachment experiences (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick,
2016; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990). While some may compensate for their unsatisfactory attach-
ments by developing a relationship with the divine through their involvement in theistic religion or
new age spirituality (Granqvist, Ivarsson, Broberg, & Hagekull, 2007), others may try to transfer
their previous attachment experience onto their relationship with a religious figure. Here, God
functions as a security-enhancing figure in relation to the IWM of attachment. There is no precise
hierarchical structure to the IWM of God. Some believers may perceive their religious figure to be
‘sensitive’, ‘available’ and ‘benevolent’, or model a negative representation of God in which the
divine is perceived as ‘fear-provoking’, ‘unavailable’ and ‘insensitive’, depending on the experi-
ences they have had with previous attachment figures.
Essentially, a relationship experience with a divine attachment figure can meet the defining
criteria of an attachment relationship since the believer develops a representation of a ‘living’
divine entity that assures a sense of care that is controlled by the positive affective functions of
the divine in caregiving situations (Rizzuto, 1979). To affirm a relationship with God as an
attachment experience as such would represent God as a target for proximity-seeking religious
behaviour, as a response to loss or separation from previous attachment, as a safe haven to turn
to in times of danger and frightening situations, as a secure base from which to explore a world
of imagined danger, and as a stronger and wiser friend in times of life’s uncertainties (Granqvist
& Kirkpatrick, 2016). Depending on the need of the believer, a relationship with God is used as
a medium to meet their longing for security enhancement, companionship, hope and emotional
support. An attachment to God can therefore be described as a relationship pattern that is
Counted and Zock 17
maintained through various forms of religious behaviour that may involve spending time in
prayer and fasting, involvement in a faith community, ritual practice, searching for God in
Scriptures or sacred texts, among others. Experiencing a spiritual attachment to the divine allows
the believer to perceive God as one who is in a relationship to them and involved in their daily
routine of experience as a surrogate attachment.
Place and attachment
An obvious starting point for applying attachment theory to the study of place is the notion that
people have a special positive bond to some particular spatial settings. This notion is of particular
interest in the fields of environmental psychology and human geography and has been supported
by a number of empirical and theoretical research studies (Giuliani, 2003; Hidalgo & Hernández,
2001; Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001; Low & Altman, 1992). In this section, Bowlby’s attachment
theory will be extended beyond the attachment–religion discourse to propose that non-religious
figures, such as topical objects, may also fill the attachment relationship role in addition to, or
instead of, God. It is also proposed that the relational bond with a spatial setting can also add to
spiritual significance, whereby a place becomes an important setting for spiritual or religious expe-
riences for a religious believer (e.g. Counted & Watts, 2017; Mazumdar & Mazumder, 2004).
The concept of place generally suggests an environmental locus through which the experiences
and actions of individuals or a community are spatially drawn together (Casey, 2009; Seamon,
2014). This understanding of place has been studied under the umbrella of ‘place attachment’ for
the past two decades in environmental psychology and human geography (Low & Altman, 1992).
Place attachment is recognised as the emotional component and quality that make up the under-
standing of place to which people are drawn. Giuliani and Feldman (1993) reviewed the different
cultural and developmental theories related to place attachment, and came to the conclusion that it
is a positive emotional bond to a geographic setting and the meaning attributed to that bond. This
emotional quality of place is a bond centred on a perceived advantage afforded by place, or the
function attached to a setting that represents the characteristics of an actual attachment figure.
Researchers such as Morgan (2010) have argued that place attachment may be related to the
IWMs of attachment in that it may be the consequence of childhood memories. In providing sup-
port for the remembrance of childhood place experiences among adults, Morgan (2010) proposes
that these early memories are generalised into unconscious IWMs of place, which later on manifest
‘subjectively as a long-term positively affected bond to place known as place attachment’ (p. 11).
These memories create strong place-meanings and emotional bonds that stimulate proximity-seeking
to such geographic settings, thereby making such places targets for proximity even in adulthood.
Aside from the emotional aspects, the natural and physical qualities of a place can stimulate prox-
imity-seeking behaviours, and to some extent make the individual depend on a place (Counted,
2015). There are several ways proximity to place can be manifested. For example, studies suggest
that people develop proximity to place by purchasing a home in a particular suburb and by display-
ing photos of an important landscape or scenery (Ryan & Ogilvie, 2001). This can also be expressed
through repeat visitation to an important place (Kelly & Hosking, 2008; Tan, 2017), visualising a
childhood place (Scannell & Gifford, 2017), or, in an extreme situation, refusal to evacuate a place
even though it is endangered (Billig, 2006; Donovan, Suryanto, & Utami, 2012).
The idea that place may function as an object of attachment and embodies certain advantages
reminiscent of attachment figures may also be because of the emotional qualities of place in terms
of it serving as a safe haven and secure base (Scannell & Gifford, 2014). As a safe haven, certain
geographic places have the qualities of ‘survival and security’ (Chatterjee, 2005; Counted & Watts,
2017; Giuliani, 2003), serving as refuges for safety in times of instability (e.g. Billig, 2006). In
18 Archive for the Psychology of Religion 41(1)
terms of playing the role of a secure base, studies show that geographic places can afford the
advantage of individual growth in terms of ‘goal support’ (Kyle, Mowen, & Tarrant, 2004), ‘social
belonging’ (Giuliani, 2003), ‘self-continuity’, and ‘identity’ and ‘self-esteem’ (Twigger-Ross &
Uzzell, 1996). In addition, the social contacts and networks of support that individuals have in a
place can serve as a sense of safe haven and secure base, respectively, making them turn to those
resources or their social capital when in danger (Brown et al., 2003) and when in need of exploring
other places (Fried, 2000). People are drawn to objects of attachment because of their caregiving
attributes to which the individual turns for emotional regulation and attachment affiliation
(Mikulincer, Shaver, Gillath, & Nitzberg, 2005). Against this backdrop, it is argued that place can
equally provide similar enduring qualities that facilitate proximity and individual growth, and cre-
ate a sense of security as an exalted attachment surrogate.
Furthermore, place is represented as an object of attachment in our day-to-day engagements due
to the interactions and activities that require our proximity to place. This proximity serves as a
functional feature of attachment relationship in place experiences. Apart from ‘proximity to place’
being a common feature of the place attachment discourse, another reason why attachment to place
may be common in contemporary life is due to the environmental and social quality of a place in
responding to psychological needs (Marcheschi, Laike, Brunt, Hansson, & Johansson, 2015).
According to attachment theory, attached individuals are most likely to turn to their objects of
attachment when confronted by frightening events and negative emotions that activate their attach-
ment system (Bowlby, 1982). Historically, geographic settings are often used as a reference point
to describe places of refuge (Counted & Watts, 2017). Place attachment theory also gives another
perspective to the migration crisis in Europe, in that the refugees fleeing there for help as a safe
haven may have been drawn to the place as a perceived object of attachment. In an interesting view
on the migration crisis in Europe, Cherson (2015) captures how Western Europe is seen as a better
‘object of attachment’ than Eastern Europe and their homeland, promising survival and goal-support
for Syrian refugees:
[Syrian refugees] run to Europe … they do not want to stay in a poor Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria; and even
Spain, Greece and Portugal are not attractive to them. They are heading for Germany, the Netherlands and
Great Britain, where wages and above all, social subsidies, are higher. This is what they want. (Cherson,
2015, para. 13)
The Syrian refugees seem to be drawn to Western Europe even though they have not explored
those places physically. Perhaps this is one of the distinct ways in which attachment to place pro-
cesses differ from other kinds of attachment. It seems that the Syrians were rather attached to the
fantasy of a Western European safe haven. This suggests that place attachment can happen either
verbally or visually, even without being physically present in the place. Scannell and Gifford
(2017) referred to this dimension of place attachment as ‘place visualisation’, which is the function
of place type, socio-demographic characteristics and memory support. It is therefore possible for
people to turn to a place or the idea (visualisation) of a place in times of danger because it is per-
ceived as a safe haven.
A theoretically ideal ‘place’ of attachment would resemble a kind of hybrid image, combining
the prototypical qualities of being supportive and protective of one’s life goals and security needs.
Morgan (2010) observes how the remembrance of childhood places, that is, family structure, fam-
ily members, family culture and even the wider culture and the environment itself, creates a unique
attachment nostalgia or repulsion for a place. The way a place is experienced can be traced to
the broader biographical frame of childhood memories, which can invoke working memories and
emotional bonds through feelings of love, grief, pleasure, security and identity. Childhood
Counted and Zock 19
memories of a place, especially those associated with grief and pain, can also influence how the
individual relates to a place (Manzo, 2003). For example, the memories of the 2001 9/11 memorial
location and the venue of the November 2015 Paris attack now serve as places to remember and
honour victims who died during the terror attacks.
Place and spirituality
As discussed in previous sections, place experiences and several aspects of relational spirituality
could be interpreted as attachment processes. These relationship experiences were described as the
maturational aspects of attachment development. It was argued that these adult attachment pro-
cesses provide a window into a world of experience that takes into account the relationships with
objects of attachment, serving as important points of reference for the construction of identity and
religious behaviour.
One way to look at the relationship between place and spirituality based on theories previously
discussed is to consider it as a ‘transactional’ process that amplifies the content of interactions between
the individual and the objects of attachment (e.g. a geographic place and a divine entity). In other
words, the ongoing, imagined interaction between the individual and the object of attachment could
help in understanding PS as a transactional process involving two antithetical poles, such that one end
of the pole serves as the sender of information and the other plays the role of the receiver of informa-
tion (Berne, 1961). Berne saw the transactional process as a fundamental unit of social intercourse in
which social actions are based upon the interactions between two objects in order to construct com-
munication as a two-way, reciprocal process. In describing this transactional process, Berne (1961,
1964) argues that when we communicate we do so based on our feelings and physiological needs at
the time of the communication, which determine what content we use at a particular time. In the
context of PS, this means that the individual experience emerges from the interactions between the
content of their social behaviour (laden with feelings of exploration and needs for attachment affilia-
tion to place or God) and the environmental setting which motivate such behaviour.
Berne’s transactional theory might help to illuminate the relationship between place and spiritu-
ality. Hence, the first step towards understanding the concept of PS would be to see it as a transac-
tional process involving the religious believer and the objects of attachment, such that they are
defined in relation to each other and affected by each other (Thomas, 2001). This means that the
religious believer can be drawn to a place and at the same time have a relationship with God, with
both objects of attachment having a positive or negative effect on their religious experience. In
other words, attachment to a geographic place could have a spiritual significance for religious
believers, depending on the psychological needs that are stimulated by their environment. This
spiritual significance enables them to make sense of life events, relationships and the self, as they
interact with the objects of attachment.
Furthermore, the correspondence and compensation models of attachment can also be used to
interpret the concept of PS. For example, in the event that an object of attachment is perceived
to be unsafe or unreliable, a compensatory attachment may be formed as the individual turns to
another object for relationship. However, the correspondence transactional process can differ in
that relationships can be maintained with an object of attachment as a way of enhancing the indi-
vidual’s felt security and not necessarily because of relationship problems with another object
(Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990). The reciprocity generated through these two transactional pathways
(correspondence and compensation models) is central to the tenets of attachment. This is partly
because the individual reinforces proximity to an object of attachment based on the effects of their
IWMs, which remain active in the attachment system (Russell & Snodgrass, 1987).
20 Archive for the Psychology of Religion 41(1)
PS demonstrates the interactions with objects of attachment, such as a place and a divine entity,
serving as targets for proximity-seeking behaviour. These interactions allow for a to-and-fro oscil-
lation of behaviour between two antithetical poles, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, which portray the
transactional model of PS using Cooper, Hoffman, Marvin, and Powell’s (2002) Circle of Security
model (CoS). The CoS framework was developed by Marvin and colleagues in order to investigate
the child’s circular pattern of movement with the attachment caregiver in the physical environ-
ment. According to CoS, the primary caregiver is seen as a safe haven for affect regulation and
serves as a secure base for exploring the world, as seen in Figure 1. We have adapted the CoS
model to design a ‘Circle of Place Spirituality’ (CoPS), which is the circular pattern of movement
with objects of attachment in a transactional chain (also see Counted, 2018).
As shown in Figure 2, in order to understand PS one should recognise the to-and-fro movement
of the religious believer away from God to explore the world of opportunities around them (or
towards God to escape a frightening world). When an object of attachment fails to fulfil its rela-
tionship role, the attached individual can be driven into a relationship with another object that can
keep them feeling secure and protected (Bowlby, 1982; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick
& Shaver, 1990). Eventually, people may turn to God when they perceive a place to be dangerous
and harmful to their well-being, especially during war or conflict, natural disasters, terror attacks,
police brutality and protests, among other factors. Turning to prayer, showing interest in religious
participation (e.g. going to church) and reading Scriptures or religious texts (e.g. the Bible or the
Quran) are ways in which such an attachment can be formed. Place events can create a sense of
Figure 1. Circle of Security.
Source: Cooper, Hoffman, Marvin, and Powell (1999).
Counted and Zock 21
place dissatisfaction, prompting individuals who find themselves within such spaces to develop a
connection to the divine – a relationship that is aimed at assuring security, emotional meaning,
healing and hope. Alternatively, religious believers are likely to turn to the social activities and
environmental qualities of a place when they feel abandoned by God or perceive Him to not exist.
When an object of attachment loses its magnetic draw, people who were once drawn to it may look
elsewhere for attachment.
To illustrate, we draw some insights using the incident of the Paris attack in November 2015,
which was cited in the introductory section of this article. One Paris resident, Victoria Setga,
seemed to be attached to her environment, but after the terror attack there was a sudden shift in her
attachment affiliation, whereby instead of Paris being her place of attachment she felt the need to
explore a relationship with God, another potential object of attachment, through the medium of
prayer. She reasoned that the terror attack made people ‘pray even though [they] don’t believe in
God’, with some residents forming spiritual attachments that manifested in their singing the reli-
gious song ‘Hallelujah’ by Jeff Buckley.3
Alternatively, another example of exchanging one object of attachment for another is the case
where Victoria could be a religious believer from a very poor socio-economic background who
moved from a very religious country to secular Europe. In her new environment, Victoria realised that
her dreams and aspirations would be met in her new abode regardless of whether she prayed or not.
And as a result, she decided to ignore her relationship with God, and explore the opportunities in her
new environment, even though she needed to learn about the new place in order to understand how
to achieve her goal. However, as an additional example, Victoria might just as well have decided not
to ignore her relationship with God and also spend quality time in her new place of abode.
As illustrated by the three possible scenarios above, we can see how objects of attachment seem
to send transactional information to Victoria as the receiver of the information, offering a sense of
hope, meaning and enhanced security. In other words, Victoria seems to maximise her attention to
attachment-related information that led her to explore a relationship with either God or her
Figure 2. The Circle of Place Spirituality.
22 Archive for the Psychology of Religion 41(1)
environment as an object of attachment. As long as the object of attachment continues to provide
satisfactory emotional quality and growth opportunities in the context of more disruptive experi-
ences (e.g. terror attacks, war or conflict, natural disasters), this adjustment would allow the indi-
vidual to achieve a sense of PS as an organised workable attachment strategy. We come to the
conclusion that PS directs our attention to the benefits received by the religious believer or non-
believer through relationships with geographic places or the divine, which determine the extent to
which they either explore or draw close to objects of attachment in a transactional chain.
Concluding remarks
Conceptualising PS from an attachment perspective has been the primary task of this article. We
started by highlighting the various traditional concepts regarding relational spirituality in the psy-
chology of religion, with a particular focus on the theory of attachment to God. This was followed
by a review of literature on place attachment in environmental psychology and human geography,
which emphasised the attachment attributes of place bonds as matching the definitional criteria of
an attachment relationship. In the concluding sections, we conceptualised PS as a transactional
process and an organised attachment strategy between an individual and his or her objects of
attachment. This understanding of PS might be especially important for exploring the religious
experiences of people whose attachment to place might be disrupted by natural disasters, war or
conflict, protests, terror attacks and socio-cultural inequities, among others. This model of rela-
tional spirituality also makes a case for understanding the relationship between religion and place
as psychological dynamics that involve attachment processes. Clarifying the role of place attach-
ment in religion would be an important task for future studies, which could enhance and deepen
our understanding of PS. Further studies that factor the meaning of place and how the divine may
be present in a place in different cross-cultural contexts would contribute to the proposed PS model.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Notes
1. Watch the video via this link: https://youtu.be/SBWj3ZvwoHM
2. The CNN interview with Victoria Setga can be watched online via the following YouTube link: https://
youtu.be/fN262KwkeOw
3. Watch the videos via these links: https://youtu.be/SBWj3ZvwoHM and https://youtu.be/fN262KwkeOw
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