INSECURE ADULT ATTACHMENT PREDICTS ENGAGEMENT WITH NARRATIVE FICTION MARINA RAIN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PSYCHOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO MAY 2019 © Marina Rain, 2019 ii Abstract Individual differences in attachment orientations predict how deeply involved people become in social relationships, but do they also influence the extent to which they become invested in fictional social worlds? In Studies 1–3, we found that an interaction between attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted becoming more absorbed into a story at both the trait and state level. To extend these findings and to gain a more nuanced understanding of the relation between attachment and narrative consumption, we next turned our attention to exaMine engageMent with specific characters. In Study 4, we found that attachment anxiety predicted a greater tendency towards parasocial interaction and forming parasocial relationships with favourite TV characters. In contrast, attachment avoidance predicted the tendency to identify with characters, in addition to greater parasocial interaction with theM. Study 5 expanded on Study 4, deMonstrating that viewers higher in attachment anxiety perceive their favourite characters as being more sociotropic, whereas viewers higher in avoidance perceive their favourite characters as higher in autonomy. Finally, in Study 6, we manipulated eMotional intiMacy and found that attachment and parasocial relationships were positively related after participants were given an opportunity to experience eMotional closeness with another person, whereas the two were unrelated when this opportunity was not provided. Overall, our findings suggest that attachment insecurity predicts a greater tendency to engage with narrative fiction, albeit through different processes. Individuals who are high in both attachment anxiety and avoidance tend to become transported into the story world, but do not report strong engageMent with specific characters. Conversely, those high in anxiety form strong friendship-like bonds with fictional characters who prioritize relationships, iii while individuals high in avoidance engage with fictional agents by identifying with characters who prioritize autonomy. iv Acknowledgements I aM grateful to all of those with whom I have had the pleasure to work during My graduate career. First and foreMost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to My supervisor, Dr. Raymond Mar, who has been an iMportant source of support and inspiration for me for over a decade. I feel lucky to have had a supervisor who has cared equally about both my professional and personal well-being, always quick to offer encourageMent and advice. Dr. Mar’s comMitMent to psychological science and Mentorship is something that I admire and hope to carry with me into the next stage of My life. I would also like to thank my dissertation comMittee meMbers, Dr. AMy Muise and Dr. Robert Muller, for their invaluable guidance and feedback throughout the dissertation process. Completing this work would not have been possible without the support and friendship provided by the other meMbers of the Social and Personality area at York University’s Psychology DepartMent. In particular, I would like to thank fellow lab MeMbers Katrina Fong and Joshua Quinlan for their willingness to provide moral support and insightful feedback, and to laugh politely at my jokes. Finally, thank you to my faMily and friends, who have never stopped supporting me despite having no idea what it is I actually do in graduate school. v Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... v List of Tables ................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures.....................................................................................................................ix Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Proposed Studies.............................................................................................................….7 Chapter 2…………………………………………………………………………………14 Study 1………………………………………………………………………..….20 Methods………………………………………………………….…………….…21 Results and Discussion………………………………………….……………..…23 Study 2………………………..………………………………………………….25 Methods…………………………………………………………………………..25 Results and Discussion………………………………………….………………..27 Study 3…………………………………………………………………………...28 Methods…………………………………………………………………………..29 Results and Discussion…………………………………………………….…..…33 General Discussion….………………………………….……………..………….36 Chapter 3………………………………………………………..……………………..…42 Methods………………………………………………………………..…………………49 Results………………………………………………………………..……………..……53 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………..…55 Chapter 4…………………………………………………………………………………63 Methods………………………………………………………………………………..…66 Results……………………………………………………………………………………70 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..75 Chapter 5…………………………………………………………………………………81 Methods…………………………………………………………………………………..84 Results…………………………………………………………………………………....88 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..91 Chapter 6……………..…………………………………………………………………..94 General Discussion ..........................................................................................................95 LiMitations and Future Directions....................................................................................102 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................108 vi References….…………………………………………………………………………...110 Footnotes……………………………………………………………………………..…156 Appendix A: Relationship Closeness Induction Task…………………………………...160 vii List of Tables Table 1: Studies 1-3: Descriptive statistics of Measures………………………....……...132 Table 2: Studies 1-3: Inter-correlations between Measures of attachment, transportation, and the Big Five traits related to attachment…………………………..........…...133 Table 3: Study 1: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on trait transportation, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………134 Table 4: Study 2: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on trait transportation, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………135 Table 5: Study 3: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on overall state transportation, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM…………………………...136 Table 6: Study 3: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on narrative understanding, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism…………………………...137 Table 7: Study 3: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on attentional focus, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………138 Table 8: Study 3: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on narrative presence, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………139 Table 9: Study 3: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and their interaction on eMotional engageMent, controlling for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………140 Table 10: Study 4: Descriptive statistics of Measures…………………………………...141 Table 11: Study 4: Inter-correlations between Measures of attachment, character engageMent, and the Big Five traits related to attachment………………………142 Table 12: Study 4: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on character identification, controlling for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and NeuroticisM……………………………………………………………………..143 viii Table 13: Study 4: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on parasocial interaction, controlling for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and NeuroticisM………………………………………………….144 Table 14: Study 4: ExaMining the effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance on parasocial relationships, controlling for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and NeuroticisM………………………………………………….145 Table 15: Study 5: Means and standard deviations of Measures………………………...146 Table 16: Study 5: Inter-correlations between Measures of viewers’ traits and favourite characters’ traits………………………………………………………………...147 Table 17: Study 5: ExaMining the association between attachment anxiety and avoidance in viewers and attachment avoidance in favourite TV characters, controlling for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and NeuroticisM…………….148 Table 18: Study 5: ExaMining the association between attachment anxiety and avoidance in viewers and autonomy in favourite TV characters, controlling for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and NeuroticisM……………………………..149 Table