Attachment Styles and the Big Five: A Comparative Analysis

Attachment styles and the Big Five tests are two entirely different personality tests that target different psychological qualities and aspects of personality. The attachment styles test provides information on the relational aspects of one’s personality.

In contrast, the Big Five test focuses on specific traits based on which it provides an overall personality profile.

In this article, we’ll explain the Attachment styles and the Big Five test in detail and explore what information they provide and when each is used.

Attachment style and the Big Five tests are two different psychological tools designed to target different aspects of personality.
The attachment styles test describes our relational patterns, needs, and behaviors, whereas the Big Five test provides insight into key personality traits.
The connection between attachment styles and the Big Five dimensions is complex and gaining increasing scientific attention.
Both attachment style and the Big Five tests are valuable tools for personal growth and development.

Attachment styles are psycho-emotional patterns that explain how an individual forms connections and behaves in relationships with other people based on their earliest relational experiences.

The original attachment styles theory was developed by the English psychologist John Bowlby. Based on clinical observation and empirical research, John Bowlby concluded that children have an inherent need to form attachments with their caregivers and that this need is more complex than the simple physiological need for food.

Mary Ainsworth, an American-Canadian developmental psychologist, further conceptualized attachment theory, identifying the initial three attachment styles, while the fourth, disorganized or fearful-avoidant attachment, was described later.

As the theory was expanded, it was found that these four primary types also strongly affect adult attachment styles, essentially rippling through individuals' relationships in adulthood.

Now, let’s see what the key characteristics of the four attachment styles are:

A child develops an anxious-preoccupied attachment style when the caregiver is inconsistent in providing care. The caregiver sometimes reacts to the child’s needs attentively and sometimes doesn’t, so the child experiences unpredictability and, therefore, feels their connection with the caregiver isn’t secure.

As a result, the child becomes preoccupied with the need to ensure the connection with the caregiver and becomes clingy, dependent, and anxious, constantly demanding reassurance of love from their caregivers.

Moreover, children with this attachment style may be less interested in exploring their environment as their focus is entirely on their connection with the caregiver.

Adult individuals with an anxious-preoccupied attachment style tend to have low self-respect and are prone to co-dependent relationships. They may also be extremely possessive and jealous, and they generally struggle with trust issues.

Their earliest relational experience taught them to be hypervigilant to signs of potential abandonment so they have plenty of affection and care to feel safe in a relationship.

The dismissive-avoidant attachment comes as the result of a relationship between the child and the caregiver in which the caregiver isn’t emotionally involved and affectionate. The caregiver may formally provide the child’s needs but is emotionally unavailable and distant.

The child experiences the caregiver’s emotional unavailability as rejection and learns to rely on themselves and suppress their need for closeness to avoid perceived rejection.

Adults with this attachment style prioritize independence, tend to devalue relationships, and generally struggle with emotional intimacy. They also often experience difficulties with emotional expression and may exaggerate the importance of intellectual compatibility at the expense of emotional intimacy.

The more intense the relationship emotionally, the stronger the urge they feel to withdraw to avoid intimacy, as intimacy triggers their initial fear of rejection.

The fearful-avoidant attachment style, formerly known as disorganized attachment, is often the consequence of a traumatic childhood and abusive, toxic experiences with caregivers. The caregiver, in this case, is not only incapable of care and affection but is also highly unpredictable and frightening and behaves in contradictory ways.

The child simply can’t organize their experience and constantly swings from one extreme emotion to another, feeling insecure and unsafe all the time. The crucial characteristic of the fearful-avoidant attachment style is confusion, as the caregiver is a source of both fear and comfort at the same time.

As adults, individuals with this attachment style tend to have extremely low self-esteem and often behave in very unpredictable ways in relationships. They both crave and fear emotional intimacy, which translates into highly ambivalent and erratic behavior toward their partners.

A secure attachment style is the consequence of growing up in a nurturing, safe, and warm atmosphere. Caregivers are emotionally sensitive and responsive to the child’s needs, and as a result, the child is relaxed and content as they know they can rely on the caregiver to take care of them.

Moreover, the child feels free to explore their environment because their caregiver’s support is stable and consistent.

People with a secure attachment style have an optimistic outlook on life, a stable sense of self-respect, and no trouble respecting and trusting other people. They are prone to balanced, harmonious relationships and have the capacity to recover after hardships and disappointments. They don’t allow one failed relationship to define their attitude toward love.

The Big Five personality test is a psychometric tool designed to measure five key personality dimensions. It is based on extensive, decades-long psychological and empirical research and, as such, is well-recognized in clinical, academic and professional settings.

The five key traits, or the so-called dimensions, that this test targets emerged through studies as the participants repeatedly used them to describe themselves. Moreover, this confirmed one of the earliest hypotheses behind the test, which states that important personality traits should be reflected in the language we use.

As for the format of the Big Five test, it is based on a set of statements that refer to specific feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. The participant rates the statement depending on how accurately it describes them, and the scale ranges from extreme confirmation to extreme negation, including the balance between the two.

Now, let’s explore the five key personality dimensions targeted by this test:

The openness scale refers to how open-minded, curious, innovative, and creative an individual is. It describes how willing a person is to try new things, engage in new experiences, explore diverse perspectives, and pursue adventures.

Scoring high on the openness scale means that you are adventurous, free-spirited, and imaginative. It also indicates that you enjoy variety and seek novel experiences and intellectual pursuits.

On the other hand, scoring low on the openness scale indicates that you are more prone to tradition than innovation and that you prefer the tried-and-tested approach to everything.

Moreover, routines and rituals may also play an important role in your life, and you may be prone to conventional, conservative perspectives. Low openness also often speaks in favor of practicality and pragmatism.

The conscientiousness dimension is related to one’s sense of organization, accountability, and purpose. It explains a person’s attitude toward discipline, risks, and responsibility and also describes a person’s attitude toward their goals.

A high score on the conscientiousness scale indicates a highly responsible, reliable, and organized personality. Highly conscientious people are also careful, thoughtful, and prudent. They always finish what they start and are generally dependable and goal-oriented.

If you score low on the conscientiousness scale, it may indicate you are impulsive, struggle with taking responsibility, and generally have a very careless disposition.

The extraversion dimension refers to all the traits usually associated with being extraverted. Therefore, it refers to how outgoing and sociable a person is, how much they need and seek companionship, and how fond they are of engaging with the external world.

People who score high on this scale usually easily make contacts and feel comfortable around other people, regardless of whether they know them. They also tend to be energetic, talkative, and assertive.

People who score low on this scale are usually considered introverted. That means they enjoy spending time alone, are highly introspective, and aren’t energized by socializing.

The agreeableness scale refers to the level of compassion, collaboration, and friendliness you display in your behavior. It reveals how important getting along with others is for you and describes the quality of your interpersonal relationships.

If you score high on the agreeableness dimension, that implies that you are kind, empathetic, and altruistic. It also indicates that you are a team player who respects other people and is considerate and friendly.

If you score low on the agreeableness scale, it indicates that you may be hard to cooperate with. Moreover, a low score in this dimension describes you as a critical, self-centered person who isn’t interested in other people’s feelings.

The neuroticism scale measures how prone you are to experiencing negative emotions. Neuroticism and jealousy, anxiety, insecurity, depression, bitterness, and all other feelings that are considered negative are all connected. It is safe to say that the neuroticism score generally corresponds to the level of emotional stability.

People who score high on neuroticism are prone to feeling anxious, stressed, and insecure. They may also be prone to mood swings and generally face difficulties when it comes to emotional regulation.

Meanwhile, people whose neuroticism scores are low tend to be emotionally stable, more resilient, and more efficient in managing stress. They are also more relaxed and tend to exhibit more self-confidence.

The connection between attachment styles and the Big Five personality tests has been moderately explored, and many interesting insights have been gleaned, though not all of them are entirely scientifically confirmed.

Moreover, some of these studies focus more on how key personality traits and attachment styles are interconnected, and some explore whether the Big 5 affects attachment styles in adults and relationships.

One of the most famous studies on the relationship between the “Big Five” and attachment styles was conducted by Phillip R. Shaver and Kelly A. Brennan. They found that “attachment styles were related in theoretically predictable ways to the Big Five dimensions and especially to some of their 'facet' subscales but were not simply redundant with them.”

Another relevant study conducted by Efrat Barel et al. focused on the connection between the Big Five dimensions and attachment styles and found that attachment styles play a significant role in moderating specific personality traits.

In general, it is safe to say that there definitely is a connection between attachment styles and the Big Five dimensions, but that connection isn’t as straightforward as we’d expect it to be.

One might be tempted to conclude that, for example, people with a secure attachment style would score low on the neuroticism scale or that they would score high on the agreeableness dimension.

However, research indicates that correlations aren’t as simple and that human nature is way more complex than can be covered by the intersection of two personality tests.

One of the reasons why this connection isn’t so simple to make is that various research has found that temperament is, in large part, biologically based and, therefore, can’t be explained solely through environmental influences, including attachment styles.

Moreover, the topic of acquired vs. innate personality has always drawn scientific attention, and the comparison of these two tests also sheds light on it.

Finally, the very idea that there is a connection between attachment styles and the Big Five dimensions is surely intriguing enough to inspire more research on the topic.

Attachment Styles and the Big Five for Self-Improvement

Attachment styles and the Big Five tests can be very powerful tools for personal growth and self-development. Both shed light on important aspects of your personality and are equally useful.

However, if you are more interested in improving the quality of your relationships, the attachment style test will be more indicative and effective as a self-improvement tool.

It will help you identify your attachment style, recognize your relational behavior patterns, and thus provide you with the possibility of making different, more conscious choices regarding your relationships.

The attachment style test will give you many answers to why certain relationships in your life ended the way they did or why you are attracted to certain types of people. Another test to consider for this purpose is the love language test for example, which can help you understand what you need from another person to feel loved.

For example, it is a common scenario for anxiously attached individuals to be highly attracted to individuals with avoidant-dismissive attachments so that both can manifest their primary behavior patterns in such relationships.

The anxiously attached partner will obsess over the relationship, while the avoidant one will withdraw; thus, both will confirm their original conclusions about the attachment. So, these are the insights you can draw from the attachment style test and then further use them to improve the quality of your connections.

The Big Five test is also a very efficient tool that can help you develop greater self-awareness and identify which aspects of your personality you might want to expand. It is also very useful in professional settings and can offer valuable insights into the kind of work and work environment in which you’d thrive.

Moreover, your Big Five test scores can be a great place for self-reflection and analysis of your typical behaviors and reactions.

As an added bonus, you might be interested in exploring the difficult person test and seeing how these scores relate to your score on the Big Five test. Moreover, the dark triad test can also indicate your weaknesses and inspire you to analyze yourself.

There’s no doubt that attachment styles and the Big Five tests can support you on your journey of self-discovery.

By embracing and understanding the insights that you gain from both, you will spontaneously develop a more holistic perspective of your personality.

Moreover, if you are motivated by the need for personal development, there are many more excellent personality tests for personal and career growth that you can use as a starting point.

And, if you are really curious, understanding cognitive functions can also help you understand yourself on a deeper level.