Attachment Security Priming: A Meta-Analysis.

Attachment security priming has important theoretical and practical implications. We review security priming theory and research and the recent concerns raised regarding priming. We then report the results of a meta-analysis of 120 studies ( = 18,949) across 97 published and unpublished articles (initial pool was 1,642 articles) investigating the affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects of security priming. A large overall positive effect size ( = .51, < .001) was found across all affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains. The largest effect was found for affect-related outcomes ( =.62, < .001), followed by behavioral ( = .44, < .001), and cognitive ( = .45, < .001). Trait attachment anxiety and avoidance moderated the effects of subliminal security priming for behavioral outcomes-security priming effects were larger among people higher on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Assessment of publication bias revealed mixed evidence for the possible presence of asymmetry.