Attachment theory

Attachment theory is a psychological theory about how young children develop human relationships. Psychologist John Bowlby developed the theory in the 1960s. Attachment theory provides an explanation of when and why emotional bonds form in children by theorizing that infants need to develop a strong and secure relationship with at least one caregiver for normal emotional development. This theory not only relates to children, but also carries through into adult interpersonal relationships. The initial caregiver relationship has such an impact on an infant that it affects subsequent relationships as the child grows and becomes an adult.

Overview

John Bowlby was a British psychologist who worked with pediatric patients in the 1930s in the London Child Guidance Clinic. The children he worked with were classified as delinquent and often did not develop lasting or trusting relationships. By investigating the family histories of these children, he noticed a disturbing pattern—they all had experienced some sort of emotional disruption with a caregiver at an early age. This led him to theorize that the emotional bonds very young children form are crucial to their emotional development and subsequent well-being. He took his observations and applied them to various psychological perspectives, such as cognitive and developmental psychology and ethological theory, which seeks to explain how evolution has affected both animal and human behavior.

He proposed his theory in the late 1960s. Bowlby (1969) described the concept of attachment in his first volume of his flagship work, Attachment and Loss, as a lasting psychological link between persons. This connection is evident early in a person’s life as an affectionate or an emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver. This bond meets an infant’s primary needs for security and protection.

Earlier behavioral theorists felt that attachment to a caregiver was not an automatic process, but a learned response as the child received food and other basic necessities. Through his research, Bowlby observed things differently and felt that attachment was related to motivations other than just receiving physical needs. For example, he noted that when a child was frightened, they would immediately seek out their preferred caregiver for comfort. In such instances, no benefit other than emotional support was provided.

He noted that children who were raised separately from their parents, such as in an orphanage or other institution, often did not form a bond with any particular caregiver, even though all of their basic needs were met. As a result, they had difficulty forming attached, or affectionate and secure, relationships as adults. This lack of healthy relationships as an adult also frequently resulted in emotional problems and a general lack of trust of other people. Bowlby and his colleagues found this to occur even if an infant had a strong attachment to a caregiver but was separated from that caregiver for an extended period, such as if the caregiver or infant were hospitalized for a long time. He saw that infants were able to form bonds with any caregivers, not just their mothers. The key was that the caregivers needed to be consistent, which was a factor that was often missed in institutionalized settings. Although in most instances the primary caregiver was the mother of an infant, a father or other person could also provide the quality of response that an infant required to form a secure bond. Thus, the primary caregiver is not necessarily the person who spends the most time with the infant, rather it is the person who responds most reliably to the infant’s signals.

The relationship between an infant and a primary caregiver serves the purpose to provide not only emotional support but also an evolutionary advantage to ensure the infant’s survival. This desire for a bond is an instinctive need, strengthened by natural selection, that all infants display starting at birth. It developed to improve the likelihood that infants receive the protection and fulfillment of their needs necessary to continue to grow to adulthood. Through this process, infants are able to learn how to form a deep bond with their primary caregiver.

When an infant signals to a caregiver a need, whether physical or emotional, the response of the caregiver determines whether the infant and caregiver form an attachment. If the caregiver provides attention to the infant when they cry, smile, or babble, the infant begins to develop a secure relationship with that caregiver. It should be noted that Bowlby was not saying a caregiver should spoil a child by showering them with attention, rather he meant that a caregiver should respond appropriately when an infant signals an emotional or physical need.

Once an infant feels a secure sense of attachment to a caregiver, they will feel confident enough in the protection of that person to begin to explore the world. This will lead the infant to learn from their experiences and become independent. For example, a securely attached infant will learn to crawl and eagerly begin to explore an area under the watchful eye of a caregiver. The infant will eventually go farther and farther away from their caregiver, confident that should they need assistance, a cry for help will be answered promptly.

Once attached to a primary caregiver, infants, as they grow, are able to direct their attention to multiple caregivers and form secure bonds with other adults. They still tend to prefer their primary caregiver and arrange any other caregivers in a particular order of preference. For example, a child may tend to always seek out comfort from the mother if they are the primary caregiver, rather than the father if they are a secondary caregiver. However, if the mother is absent, the child will likely then seek out the father over a sibling, who is a tertiary caregiver.

Psychologist Mary Ainsworth, who moved to England in the 1950s and became Bowlby’s research assistant, further developed Bowlby’s attachment theory in the 1960s and 1970s. She determined that specific patterns of attachment developed from this initial attachment of an infant to a caregiver depending on the context of the emotional support the caregiver provided. She developed a method in year-old children for assessing this by having a caregiver leave the child with a person unknown to the child and then return. She termed this experiment the “Strange Situation." Ainsworth’s observations of this experiment led her to identify patterns of attachment. Patterns of attachment appear when the child is separated from the primary caregiver, which causes the child to feel anxiety, and when the caregiver returns. The patterns describe how children respond to this anxiety and reunification. The pattern of behavior the toddler exhibits sets the stage for other social relationships as the child becomes an adult.

The attachment theory was extended beyond just the infant years to apply to adults who were shaped by their earliest relationships with caregivers. This encompassed not only romantic relationships, but all relationships and how a person responds to the needs of other people, such as their own children or older parents. Bowlby eventually published his comprehensive attachment theory in three volumes. He explains that how an infant forms their first attachment with a primary caregiver determines how the infant learns to form relationships during the rest of the individual’s life. Attachment extends to adult relationships when a person signals emotional needs to others, whether friendships, work relationships, or romantic relationships, and passes on the pattern as a caregiver.

Initially, some psychoanalysts were critical about the validity of attachment theory, but it continued to gain momentum in the 1980s and eventually became a dominant theory of social development. Further research has also suggested slight modifications, but overall, Bowlby’s attachment theory has become the foundation of social, psychological, and childcare practice. It has served as the framework for policies and practices. Although Bowlby died in 1990, his son, Richard, continued to help promote his father’s research and present it in areas of practical application, especially in the setting of young children in daycare and forming secure attachments to caregivers.

Further Insights

Stages of Attachment

The stages of attachment in the theory begin as soon as an infant is born. The pre-attachment, or asocial, phase lasts for approximately the first six weeks. Newborns can see only approximately a foot away; anything beyond this distance is blurry. During this stage, the infant does not show any signs of forming a bond with a specific caregiver and only responds to human interaction in a limited way. An infant may smile at any adult that is in close proximity, but the infant appears to show no significant preference for any one caregiver over another.

The indiscriminate stage lasts from approximately six weeks of age to seven months. The infant in this phase begins to show a marked preference for a primary caregiver, such as the mother. However, the infant may also show just as much preference for and attention to a secondary caregiver. An infant will seem to recognize familiar people and will become upset if a caregiver leaves their proximity.

The discriminate or specific attachment stage begins at approximately seven months of age. During this time, the infant shows a strong attachment and preference for a single caregiver. Generally, this relationship relates to one of the infant’s parents, but in some households, this may be another relative or professional caregiver, such as a nanny, who has the most interaction with the infant. During this stage, the infant will show a fear of strangers and display signs of separation anxiety when apart from their preferred caregiver.

The multiple attachment stage occurs at ten months of age. During this stage, the child begins to forge bonds to varying degrees with multiple other caregivers. This may include parents, grandparents, siblings, or other adults with whom the child interacts. It may also include professional caregivers, such as babysitters or daycare workers. However, the child ranks their preference for caregivers into a hierarchy. During this time, the child also becomes increasingly independent and seeks to explore the world.

Attachment Patterns

Bowlby identified secure attachment as being able to connect well with others in a relationship but also to be able to act independently when necessary. Ainsworth identified three attachment patterns: secure, avoidant, and resistant. A secure attachment occurs when infants form a healthy emotional bond with a caregiver and feel secure enough to explore the world around them. However, if they feel threatened or require comfort, the infant will return to their caregiver. This form of attachment is most easily observed in an infant who initially becomes upset when a caregiver leaves but feels confident enough that the caregiver will return. When the caregiver returns, the infant responds with joy.

Avoidant attachment occurs when an infant does not form a secure bond with their caregiver, yet the child still desires to explore the world around them. Usually, this occurs in situations when an infant’s signals for attention from a caregiver have not been met over a period of time. In this case, if a caregiver leaves the infant, the infant will not become distressed at their absence. Upon the return of the caregiver, the infant will show an attitude of avoidance toward the caregiver.

Resistant attachment, which is sometimes called anxious or ambivalent attachment, is similar to avoidant attachment, in that an insecure bond is initially formed. However, the infant becomes very distressed when a caregiver is absent. The infant appears to want the caregiver to return, but when the caregiver does return, the infant may avoid or become angry with the caregiver. As with avoidant attachment, resistant attachment often occurs when a caregiver is unreliable at meeting an infant’s needs.

Mary Main and Judith Solomon added a fourth attachment pattern in 1990. Disorganized or disoriented attachment is most often seen in infants who have been abused, neglected, or subject to other extreme inconsistencies. In this case, the infant seems confused when a caregiver is present or absent because they have come to view their caregiver as both a source of comfort and the cause of distress, which causes confusion or even alarm on the part of the infant. This pattern often accompanies emotional developmental risk and results in the inability to form stable relationships as adults.

As a child grows, attachment patterns are worked into their social skills and independence. The child no longer requires close proximity to their primary caregiver as they become more independent. For example, as a secure child becomes old enough to attend school, they are content to leave their caregiver to go to school to experience new surroundings and learn from new caregivers. However, a child that did not develop a secure attachment may either resist school or not adapt well to relationships with teachers or classmates.

In 1987, researchers Cindy Hazan and Philip Shaver identified four styles of attachment in romantic relationships. These correspond to Ainsley’s patterns developed as infants but relate to an adult and a significant other. They are secure; preoccupied, which in children is anxious or resistant; dismissive, which in children is avoidant; and fearful, which is disorganized in children. Experts believe these are determined by experiences in infancy and childhood.

Bibliography

Bowlby, John. Attachment and Loss. 2nd ed., Basic Books, 1983.

Bowlby, John. "Attachment and Loss: Retrospect and Prospect." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 52, no. 4, 1982, pp. 664–78.

Bowlby, Richard. "Babies and Toddlers in Non-Parental Daycare Can Avoid Stress and Anxiety If They Develop a Lasting Secondary Attachment Bond with One Carer Who Is Consistently Accessible to Them." Attachment & Human Development, vol. 9, no. 4, 2007, pp. 307–19.

Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Attachment Theory?" VeryWell Mind, 29 Jan. 2025, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-attachment-theory-2795337#citation-5. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.

Hazan, Cindy, and Philip Shaver. "Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 52, no. 3, 1987, pp. 511–24.

Kassel, Gabrielle. "Attachment Theory Plays a Role in Relationships—Here’s What That Means for You." Healthline, 23 June 2020, www.healthline.com/health/relationships/attachment-theory. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.

McLeod, Saul. "Mary Ainsworth: Strange Situation Experiment & Attachment Theory." Simply Psychology, 17 Jan. 2024, www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.

Reijman, Sophie, et al. "The Infant Disorganised Attachment Classification: 'Patterning within the Disturbance of Coherence.'" Social Science & Medicine, vol. 200, 2018, pp. 52–58.