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- DictionaryAt·tach·ment/əˈtaCHmənt/
noun
- 1. an extra part or extension that is or can be attached to something to perform a particular function: "the food processor comes with a blender attachment"
- 2. affection, fondness, or sympathy for someone or something: "she felt a sentimental attachment to the place"
Learn the various meanings and uses of the word attachment, from legal to psychological to technological. See synonyms, examples, word history, and related phrases.
Attachment is the emotional bond that forms between infant and caregiver, and it is the means by which the helpless infant gets primary needs met. It then becomes an engine of...
- Secure attachment in children has been theorized to result from sensitive, responsive caregiving , and insecurity from its lack. While there is ev...
- British psychoanalyst John Bowlby proposed that children’s attachment behaviors (such as showing distress at a parent’s absence) are part of an e...
- Abuse and trauma in childhood may hinder the development of secure attachment and may be predictive of attachment insecurity later in life . In...
- A person may have high attachment anxiety if she worries a lot about being abandoned or uncared for. This is measurable by one’s agreement with st...
- People with a secure attachment style tend to fare better on outcomes such as relationship stability and sexual satisfaction , research suggests,...
- Attachment styles can change substantially over time , research suggests, and may differ from relationship to relationship. Enduring a terrible re...
Learn the meaning of attachment in different contexts, such as machine parts, computer files, feelings of love, and law terms. See synonyms, antonyms, and usage examples for each definition.
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an act of attaching or the state of being attached. a feeling that binds one to a person, thing, cause, ideal, or the like; devotion; regard: a fond attachment to his cousin; a profound attachment to the cause of peace. Synonyms: devotedness, love. Psychology. attachment disorder, attachment theory.
- Attachment Behavioral System
- Caregiving System
- Exploratory Behavioral System
- Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
- Attachment Styles
- Stages of Attachment
- The Lasting Impact of Early Attachment
- References
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The attachment behavioral system concerns the tendency of an individual to seek security during times of stress (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003), which can be internal (i.e., hunger, fatigue, illness) or from external features of the environment, such as threatening stimuli (Bowlby, 1988). The more extreme the stress, the more intense the attachment sys...
The attachment figure is viewed as a ‘safe haven’, and their role is to correspondingly alter their level of responsiveness to deactivate the infant’s attachment system by promoting feelings of security. George and Solomon (1996) call this reciprocal response of the attachment figure to the infant’s attachment system the ‘caregiving’ system. Bowlby...
When infants feel safe and secure, and their attachment system is deactivated, their energy can be devoted to what Bowlby (1969) refers to as the exploratory behavioral system. The exploratory behavioral system refers to behaviors that drive the organism to interact with the environment in a bid to inspect it, manipulate it, and master it (Mikulinc...
Mary Ainsworth and her colleagues discovered three major patterns that infants attach to their primary caregivers (“mother figures”) from their Strange Situation Procedure(Ainsworth et al., 1978). The study recruited four different samples of infants at around one year of age, and engaged them in the Strange Situation procedure, roughly described b...
Attachment stylesrefer to the particular way in which an individual relates to other people. The style of attachment is formed at the very beginning of life, and once established, it is a style that stays with you and plays out today in how you relate in intimate relationships and in how you parent your children. The concept involves one’s confiden...
Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) investigated if attachment develops through a series of stagesby studying 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study). The children were all studied in their own homes, and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. The babie...
According to Bowlby’s theory (1988), when we form our primary attachment, we also make a mental representation of what a relationship is (internal working model), which we then use for all other relationships in the future i.e., friendships, working, and romantic relationships. The different attachment styles may be viewed as internal working model...
Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49-67. Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. Cardwell & H. Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research(Vol. 3, pp. 1-94) Ch...
Attachment theory explains the emotional bond between two people who seek closeness and security. Learn about the origins, systems, styles, and stages of attachment, and how it impacts development across the lifespan.
Attachment is a word that's equal parts mechanical and emotional. Many gadgets — such as cameras and tractors — have attachments that allow them to get more done, like a tractor attachment for plowing snow. People have attachments to bands, political movements, sports teams, hobbies, and each other.
Learn the meaning and usage of the word attachment in different contexts, such as computing, mechanics, psychology and grammar. Find out how to pronounce attachment and see example sentences and synonyms.
