Secure Base Exploration: Who Is Your Constant Support?

1. What Is a 'Secure Base'?

The concept of the 'secure base' was first proposed by the British psychologist John Bowlby in his attachment theory, and further verified by the developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth through the Strange Situation experiment. It refers to a stable source that can give a person emotional support, psychological comfort, and the courage to act when facing the unknown, pressure, or challenges.

For an infant, the mother is usually the first secure base; for adults, the secure base may be:

• Family of Origin: the unconditional acceptance provided by parents or relatives
• Intimate Partner: the person who understands and accepts you when you are vulnerable
• Inner Strength of the Self: relying on your own beliefs and emotion regulation abilities
• Close Friends / Community: trusted friends or a spiritual community

2. How Does a Secure Base Affect Your Life?

According to attachment research, having a stable secure base brings the following positive effects:

• Recovering faster when facing failure or trauma (stronger psychological resilience)
• Being more willing to explore new environments and try new opportunities (greater courage to explore)
• Finding it easier to build trust and intimacy in relationships
• Having more stable emotion regulation and being less prone to long-term anxiety

Conversely, without a stable secure base, a person is more likely to withdraw under pressure, avoid intimacy, or over-rely on external evaluation when making decisions.

3. The Four Assessment Dimensions of This Test

This test is based on attachment theory and the research framework of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), assessing the distribution of your secure base across four dimensions:

• Emotional Availability: When you feel low, who is the first to notice and respond?
• Support Stability: Has this support persisted across different stages of life?
• Self-Soothing Ability: Can you regulate your emotions when no one else is present?
• Exploration Support: When you want to change or take a risk, who encourages rather than hinders you?

4. Purpose of the Test and Who It Is For

This test is suitable for people who want to understand their emotional support system, especially:

• People who often feel lonely or lack a sense of belonging
• People who lack a sense of security in intimate relationships
• People going through a life transition (such as leaving a job, a breakup, or moving) who need psychological support
• People who want to improve their psychological resilience and self-healing ability

5. How Scoring Works and How to Read the Results

There are 18 questions in total, each scored from 1 to 5; the higher the score, the greater the weight of that source in your secure base. Based on the score combination across the four dimensions, the system determines your dominant secure base type and provides targeted psychological growth advice.