AN ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRIBAL MIND: Secure And Insecure Forms Of Tribalism

Attachment theory addresses the innate human tendency to react to threats and challenges by seeking social sources of safety and support (referred to in the theory as a “safe haven” and “secure base”). Beginning in infancy, when the search is typically directed at parental figures, and continuing throughout life, when attachment figures can include close friends, romantic partners, professionals in helping roles, and groups of various kinds, a person’s history of experiences with attachment figures can shape their sense of safety, security, and self-worth. In this chapter, the authors focus on the role that a person’s history of attachment-related security dynamics, embodied in an attachment style or orientation, plays in determining how they relate to a primary tribe or social group (in-group). That is, they offer an attachment-theory perspective on tribalism – being emotionally connected to and loyal to an in-group. The authors review the basic concepts of attachment theory and present ideas and evidence regarding what are considered secure and insecure forms of tribalism. Specifically, they show that the sense of attachment security fosters a genuine appreciation of one’s group and its members that does not necessarily entail blind in-group favoritism and loyalty or hostility to out-groups and out-group members. They also show that attachment insecurities, measured along the attachment-anxiety dimension (doubting one’s value and lovability and excessively needing and demanding others’ care and attention), foster a more defensive form of tribalism, which can result in identity fusion with the in-group and negative reactions (e.g., prejudice, discrimination, violence) to out-groups.