Attachment

Attachment

Volume One of the Attachment and Loss Trilogy

Summary

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.

Reviews

  • The publication of Attachment and Loss will prove a turning-point in the history of psychoanalysis and psychology generally
    Times Literary Supplement

About the author

E J M Bowlby

John Bowlby (1907 - 1990) was educated at the University of Cambridge and University College Hospital, London. After qualifying in medicine, he specialised in child psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In 1946 he joined the staff of the Tavistock Clinic where his research and influential publications contributed to far-reaching changes in the ways children are treated and to radical new thinking about the social and emotional development of human beings.
He held honorary degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Leicester and received awards from professional and scientific bodies, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Paediatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the New York Academy of Medicine.
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