The Psychology Book

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Attachment theory

BEFORE

1950s John Bowlby emphasizes the significance of the mother-child bond.

1959 Harry Harlow’s research with infant macaque monkeys demonstrates that they use an attachment figure as a secure base from which to explore their environment.

AFTER

1980 American psychologist Brian E. Vaughn shows that the attachment figure may change, according to variations in a family’s circumstances.

1990 American psychologist Mary Main identifies a fourth attachment type in young children—“disorganized”—to describe an infant who is fearful of both the environment and the attachment figure.

In the early 1950s, Mary Ainsworth, working ...