Supporting this hypothesis, Study 1 showed that participants
primed with situations in which close others were unreliable reported
increased object attachment, whereas participants primed with
strangers' unreliability or close others' reliability did not. Study 2 tested
our claim that attachment anxiety serves as the mechanism underlying
the effect of priming close others' unreliability on object attachment. As
revealed by the mediational analysis, attachment anxiety, and not
attachment avoidance, significantly mediated this effect. Finally, Study
3 showed that priming uncertainty about close relationships (versus
uncertainty about oneself) increased participants' motivation to reunite
with an absent material belonging. Study 3 also provided evidence that
compensatory object attachment is not motivated by the use of objects
to facilitate social relationships.