Aggressive Attachment Styles

In chapter three, we began the study of the self, which is the process of internalizing and acting from social perspectives that we learn through communication, according to the text. The self is something that is constantly developing and changing because it arises from communication with others. According to Wood, our families are usually the first important influence on how we see ourselves. Early on our parents or guardians communicate direct definition, identity scripts, and attachment styles. The direct definition tells us explicitly what we are, like our gender for example. Identity scripts tell us who we are and who we should be. According to Wood, identity scripts are comparable to play scripts because they define our roles,
However, dismissive and anxious/ambivalent attachment styles are a combination of the two. A dismissive attachment style is very common among people who bully because they view themselves highly and others as beneath them. Anxious/ambivalent attachment style is the most complex of the styles because it results from inconsistent and unpredictable behavior. After our parents, the second most influential group on our self-concepts in our peers. This includes friends, people at work, and romantic partners. Through interacting with our peer group we gain a further direct definition of who we are, according to Wood. When interacting with our peers we start to use social comparison to compare ourselves to others. This concept is often used to measure our talents, abilities, and attractiveness in comparison to other people. There is also, our communication with society, which is the third influence on our identity. Through this, we learn about ourselves in regards to sex, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class, as well as cultural values. For example, if we see someone in an advertisement that we identify with, we may get ideas about how we are supposed to look or