Concept
Attachment theory
The theory, formulated by John Bowlby from the late 1950s and developed with Mary Ainsworth, that infants are biologically disposed to form a lasting emotional bond with one or a few caregivers, and that this bond is a primary need in its own right rather than a by-product of being fed. Drawing on ethology and control theory, it describes an attachment behavioural system that seeks closeness to the caregiver when the child is frightened, tired or ill, and holds that the quality of early care shapes a person's expectations of self and others throughout life.
Development
1958
John Bowlby introduced by
Bowlby first set out the theory in 'The Nature of the Child's Tie to His Mother' (1958), followed by papers on separation anxiety (1959) and on grief and mourning (1960), and gave it its full form in the first volume of Attachment and Loss (1969).
Undated
Mary Ainsworth developed by
Through her Uganda and Baltimore studies and the Strange Situation procedure, Ainsworth tested the theory empirically and added the distinction between secure, avoidant and ambivalent attachment and the role of maternal sensitivity.
Relations
- 1958 introduced by John Bowlby
Bowlby first set out the theory in 'The Nature of the Child's Tie to His Mother' (1958), followed by papers on separation anxiety (1959) and on grief and mourning (1960), and gave it its full form in the first volume of Attachment and Loss (1969).
- developed by Mary Ainsworth
Through her Uganda and Baltimore studies and the Strange Situation procedure, Ainsworth tested the theory empirically and added the distinction between secure, avoidant and ambivalent attachment and the role of maternal sensitivity.
- derives from Object relations theory
Attachment theory grew from the British object-relations tradition's focus on early relationships and loss, though Bowlby replaced its reliance on phantasy and drive with ethological and observational evidence.
- derives from Maternal deprivation
Attachment theory was Bowlby's attempt to explain why the deprivation and separation documented in his 1951 report do such harm, by identifying the nature of the child's tie to its mother.