Perceiving to Provide: How Partner Attachment Perceptions Inform Reassurance Provision in Romantic Relationships

Romantic partners can play a key role in buffering one another’s attachment insecurities, but how they perceive one another’s attachment and whether perceptions predict behavior remains unclear. This research examined how accurately individuals perceive their partner’s global and relationship-specific attachment anxiety and avoidance, what biases shape these perceptions, and whether perceptions predict reassurance provision, a recommended buffering strategy for anxiously attached partners. Using the Truth and Bias Model, two studies (Study 1: N = 108 couples; Study 2: N = 147 couples) showed that individuals perceive their partner’s attachment with moderate accuracy, though they also overestimate insecurity and are biased to assume both similarity and complementarity in attachment. Moreover, people who perceived their partners to be higher in attachment anxiety provided greater reassurance during personal stressor discussions and in daily life (10-day ecological momentary assessment), suggesting that attachment perceptions may play a key role in initiating and calibrating buffering strategies.