Definition
Edward John Mostyn Bowlby (1907–1990): A British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded attachment theory, drawing on evolutionary theory and ethology, cybernetics, and cognitive theory.
Introduction
John Bowlby, a psychoanalyst and child psychiatrist, sought to reform and modernize psychoanalysis to give it a scientific basis, as he was unsatisfied with parts of its metatheory. Bowlby was particularly concerned with the psychoanalytic explanation of why children develop strong emotional bonds – attachments – to their caregivers, monitoring proximity to the caregiver(s) and showing distress upon separations. Attachment was at the time considered secondary to other processes, such as special forms of psychical energies, which Bowlby argued was unscientific. As outlined below, Bowlby came to draw on ethology, cybernetics, and cognitive psychology and argued that humans and other primates over the course of evolution have developed an attachment behavioral control...
Keywords
- Attachment Theory
- Child Psychiatrist
- Attachment Figure
- Attachment Behavior
- Maternal Deprivation
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1967). Infancy in Uganda: Infant care and the growth of love. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Bowlby, J. (1940). The influence of early environment in the development of neuroses and neurotic character. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 21, 154–178.
Bowlby, J. (1944). Forty-four juvenile thieves: Their characters and home life (I &II). International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 25, 154–178 & 107–127.
Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal care and mental health. Genéve: WHO.
Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of a child’s tie to his mother. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39, 350–373.
Bowlby, J. (1960a). Separation anxiety. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 41, 89–113.
Bowlby, J. (1960b). Grief and mourning in infancy and early childhood. The Psychoanalytical Study of the Child, 15, 9–52.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: vol 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: vol 2: Separation. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: vol 3: Loss, sadness & depression. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. London: Routledge.
Craik, K. (1943). The nature of explanation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Darwin, C. (1859). The origin of species by means of natural selection, or, The preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray
Duschinsky, R. (2015). The emergence of the disorganized/disoriented (D) attachment classification, 1979–1982. History of Psychology, 18(1), 32–46.
Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., & Target, M. (2008). Psychoanalytical constructs and attachment theory and research. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 783–810). New York: Guilford Press.
Freud, A., & Burlingham, D. (1943). War and children. New York: Medical War Books.
Harlow, H. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673–685.
Holmes, J. (1993). John Bowlby & attachment theory. London: Routledge.
Lorenz, K. (1963). King Solomon’s ring: New light on animal ways. London: Routledge.
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents’ unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xix, 507 pp.
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth strange situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 121–160). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research Chicago: (Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Vol. 50 (1/2), pp. 66–104).
Paulhus, D. L., Trapnell, P. D., & Chen, D. (1999). Birth order effects on personality and achievement within families. Psychological Science, 10(6), 482–488.
Piaget, J. (1955). The child’s construction of reality. London: Routledge & Kagan Paul.
Rapaport, D., & Gill, M. M. (1959). The points of view and assumptions of meta-psychology. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 40, 153–162.
Robertson, J., & Bowlby, J. (1952). Responses of young children to separation from their mothers. In J. Bowlby (1997). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1, attachment. London: Pimlico.
Tinbergen, N. (1951). The study of instincts. Oxford: Clarendon.
Van Dijken, S. (1998). John Bowlby – His early life: A biographical journey into the roots of attachment theory. London: Free Association.
Young, J. Z. (1964). A model of the Brain. London: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Forslund, T., Granqvist, P. (2016). John Bowlby: Pioneer of Attachment Theory. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3593-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3593-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences