A Socio-Epistemic Theory of Attachment: Part II. Adult Attachment Classifications as Differences in Fostering Epistemic Trust

This article builds upon the socio-epistemic theory of attachment introduced in Part I, proposing that adult attachment classifications, as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), reflect differences in fostering epistemic trust. While the AAI has been shown to reliably predict caregiving sensitivity and infant attachment patterns, questions remain regarding the precise nature of what it measures. We argue that attachment-related differences in the AAI reflect generalized communication tendencies rather than merely responses to attachment-related content. Drawing on Relevance Theory, we suggest that secure, dismissing, and preoccupied AAI classifications correspond to distinct ways of optimizing relevance in communication— balancing informativeness and processing effort in ways that shape epistemic trust. We illustrate this framework through analyses of AAI discourse patterns and psychotherapy transcripts, demonstrating that these communicative tendencies extend beyond attachment-specific contexts. This perspective offers a unified account of attachment representation, communication styles, autobiographical narratives, and intergenerational transmission of attachment, reframing attachment-related discourse differences as variations in the ability to establish epistemic trust across relationships and contexts.