Cats may have ‘attachment styles’ that mirror people’s
Sixty-five percent of felines formed secure bonds with their owners, a study finds
![cat rubbing up against owner's legs](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/092019_SB_cat-attachment_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
Most cats in a new study are secure attachers, researchers say, meaning the felines are comforted by the return of their owners after a brief absence and continue playing.
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By Sofie Bates
Cats may have “attachment styles” that resemble those of people. And contrary to cats’ aloof reputation, most felines form deep, secure bonds with their owners, researchers say.
Attachment theory, developed in the 1950s, suggests that early in life, people predominantly form one of four styles of attachment: secure and three types of insecure called ambivalent, avoidant or disorganized. Secure attachers are comforted by a caretaker’s presence; ambivalent tend to be clingy and overdependent; and avoidant seem disinterested. Disorganized attachers show a mix of contradictory behaviors, seeking attention and then resisting it.
Now a study finds that those four attachment styles show up in cats. Perhaps surprisingly to those who think cats don’t care about us, 64 percent of felines were identified as secure. Roughly 30 percent were ambivalent, and the rest were mostly avoidant. That mirrors the attachment styles seen among human infants and other animals, including other primates and dogs, the researchers report September 23 in Current Biology.
The findings indicate that cats have a greater flexibility and depth of social relationships than previously thought. “It suggests that some cats are bonding with us as caretakers,” says coauthor Monique Udell, an animal behaviorist at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
In their version of a secure base test — a type of psychology experiment typically used to study the relationship between a parent and infant — the researchers set up a nondescript room, bare except for a few toys. The team instructed each owner to sit in the middle of the room and ignore his or her kitten for two minutes, not making eye contact or speaking unless the cat stepped inside a circle outlined on the floor. Owners were allowed to interact with their pet if the cat entered the circle. Then, the owner left the cat alone in the room for two minutes, before re-entering and again sitting inside the circle.
![A woman and a cat in a research lab](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/092019_SB_cat-attachment_inline_730.jpg?resize=730%2C424&ssl=1)
The researchers tested 79 kittens and their owners and recorded each pair’s interactions on camera. Based on how the cat reacted to their owner’s return, the scientists were able to assign 70 of the felines with an attachment style.
Kittens with a secure style greeted their owners warmly, rubbed against the person or allowed physical contact, before going to explore the room or play with a toy, the team found. Cats with the insecure-ambivalent attachment style sat in their owner’s lap and demanded constant attention, while those that were insecure-avoidant hid or ran away from physical contact.