• Industry Promotion Research
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.297-309
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study is to deeply analyze the psychological influence of anxious attachment and projective identification on extramarital behavior. By systematically collecting and analyzing literature reviews, we explored how anxious attachment and projective identification are connected to extramarital behavior, strengthened the theoretical background, and suggested the possibility of application in counseling and treatment processes. We analyzed the possibility and pattern of extramarital behavior according to anxious attachment types (anxious, avoidant, and mixed types), and investigated whether projective identification plays an important role in justifying extramarital behavior and worsening relationships. The anxious attachment type tends to find stability in oneself through extramarital behavior due to the fear of being abandoned by the partner, while the avoidant attachment type tends to avoid emotional intimacy and maintain independence, and tends to distance oneself from the relationship through extramarital behavior. Mixed attachment is a state of mixed anxiety and avoidance, and tends to relieve extreme emotional changes through extramarital behavior. In addition, projective identification functions as a psychological mechanism that projects one's negative emotions and anxiety onto the other person and shifts responsibility for extramarital behavior to the other person. Through this, infidelity became a means to protect or justify oneself, which resulted in worsening the relationship. This study shows that anxious attachment and projective identification are important psychological backgrounds of infidelity, and it provides important implications for the development of counseling and treatment programs. It can be used as basic data for promoting individual psychological health and forming healthy relationships.