Attachment

• Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony. Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer. Multiple attachments and the role of the father.

• Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz and Harlow.

• Explanations of attachment: learning theory and Bowlby’s monotropic theory. The concepts of a critical period and an internal working model.

• Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’. Types of attachment: secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant. Cultural variations in attachment, including van Ijzendoorn.

• Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation.

• The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including the role of an internal working model.