Emophilia, sociosexuality, and anxious attachment: Approach and inhibition differences

•Anxious attachment, sociosexuality, and emophilia are all distinct processes.•These processes were examined against the backdrop of behavioral activation and inhibition.•Emophilia was uniquely associated with BAS.•Sociosexuality was uniquely associated with BAS-Fun.•Anxious attachment was uniquely associated with BIS.

Emophilia is defined by a tendency to fall in love quickly and often, which is associated with rapid romantic involvement. However, questions linger as to how it is different from anxious attachment, which also predicts rapid romantic involvement. One key difference is the process (i.e., approach vs. avoidance) through which these individuals perceive rewards and punishments. Whereas emophilia is defined as a reward-based approach process, anxious attachment is an anxiety based avoidance process. Three overlapping variables (emophilia, sociosexuality, and anxious attachment) were examined against the backdrop of Gray's Behavioral Activation and Inhibition Systems (BAS & BIS, respectively) using 240 participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Each had a unique reinforcement pattern. Whereas anxious attachment was associated with both aspects of BIS, emophilia was associated with BAS-Reward and sociosexuality was associated with BAS-Fun and BAS-Drive. These findings suggest that while emophilia is associated with reward-based “approach” processes, anxious attachment is associated with fear and anxiety based “inhibitory” processes. These avoidance processes are presumably associated with need-based affiliation with a romantic partner.