This first volume of John Bowlby’s
Attachment and Loss series examines the nature of the child’s ties to the mother. Beginning with a discussion of instinctive behavior, its causation, functioning, and ontogeny, Bowlby proceeds to a theoretical formulation of attachment behavior—how it develops, how it is maintained, what functions it fulfills.In the fifteen years since
Attachment was first published, there have been major developments in both theoretical discussion and empirical research on attachment. The second edition, with two wholly new chapters and substantial revisions, incorporates these developments and assesses their importance to attachment theory.
In this classic work of psychology
John Bowlby examines the processes that take place in attachment and separation and shows how experimental studies of children provide us with a recognizable behaviour pattern which is confirmed by discoveries in the biological sciences. He makes clear that human attachment is an instinctive response to the need for protection against predators, and one as important for survival as nutrition and reproduction.
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