VOlUME 05 ISSUE 02 FEBRUARY 2022
1Selami Varol Ülker, 2Gökben Hızlı Sayar
1Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology Department, Üsküdar University, Istanbul, Turkey
2Institute of Social Science, Clinical Psychology Department, Üsküdar University, Istanbul, Turkey
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ABSTRACT
In this dissertation, the physiological effects of attachment theory were investigated with respect to the Polyvagal theory. The aim of the study is to investigate comparatively whether there is a physiological change that can be proven by activating the attachment system as a result of romantic relationship and vital threat with emotional stimuli through the participants who are classified as avoidant and anxious attachment dimensions by applying ECR scale. 60 participants divided into the two groups; avoidant and anxious were exposed to visual stimulus in three qualified categories (romantic relationship-positive, neutral and romantic relationship-negative) for 12 min. Skin conductance level (SCL) computed from GSR by measuring changes in the conductivity of the skin regulated by the Autonomic Nervous System. In order to observe the changes in facial expressions regulated by the VII. cranial nerve, the metrics of 7 basic emotions in AFFDEX facial expression analysis modules (anger, sadness, disgust, happiness, etc.) were analyzed with "Time Percentage". Thus, it was investigated whether there was a statistically significant difference in terms of physiological change between two different groups in three different stimulus categories. It was observed that there is no significant difference in the measurement of SCL μS/m of two groups. However, when peaks were included in the analyses, it was observed that the anxious group have more peak counts then the avoidant groups in terms of romantic positive, romantic negative, and polyvagal -negative measures (χ2 (4)= 45,084, p=.000). As for AFFDEX analyses, Positive, Sadness (mean, 0.03 ss = 0.26 - mean 00 p = .014), Neutral, sadness (mean, 0.15 sd = 1.53 - mean .00 p = .025) Negative, fear (mean, 0.12 sd = 1.06 - mean.00 p = .045) Negative time percentage (mean: 0.33 sd = 2.58 – mean: 2.43 ss = 11.24 p = .038) were observed significant differences between groups. As a result, it is assumed that revealing concrete and important findings on biological markers of adult attachment with respect to the framework of polyvagal theory would provide both theoretical and practical contributions to the field.
KEYWORDS:Attachment, Polyvagal, Galvanic Skin Response, Automated Facial Coding
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