Gifts from Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby

Abstract

Attachment theory has developed over many decades - and continues to develop. Its roots lie in several seminal publications of John Bowlby (the basis of attachment theory) and Mary D. S. Ainsworth (the notion of individual differences in attachment). This paper identifies the prescient contributions of these early publications and two processes (a long-term dialogue and reflection on discrepancy) that underlay emergent theory. Because I was a student of Ainsworth when both attachment theory and individual differences in attachment organization were becoming better known, I offer some of my recollections of that period, suggesting how that period may have affected current work in attachment.