Attachment: Second Edition (Basic Books Classics) [Paperback]

John Bowlby (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0465005438 | ISBN-13: 978-0465005437 | Publication Date: September 23, 1983 | Edition: 2 Sub

This first volume of John Bowlby’s Attachment and Loss series examines the nature of the child’s ties to the mother. Beginning with a discussion of instinctive behavior, its causation, functioning, and ontogeny, Bowlby proceeds to a theoretical formulation of attachment behavior—how it develops, how it is maintained, what functions it fulfills.In the fifteen years since Attachment was first published, there have been major developments in both theoretical discussion and empirical research on attachment. The second edition, with two wholly new chapters and substantial revisions, incorporates these developments and assesses their importance to attachment theory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The lucidity of exposition and the thoroughness in marshalling the relevant data make it likely that the publication of Attachment...will prove a turning point in the history of psychoanalysis and psychology generally." -- Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

John Bowlby is honorary staff member of the Tavistock Clinic in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 2 Sub edition (September 23, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465005438
• ISBN-13: 978-0465005437
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Groundbreaking Classic on Young Child Development, September 4, 2003

By 

Ng Wai Yin "Wai-Yin Ng" (Hong Kong SAR, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Attachment: Second Edition (Basic Books Classics) (Paperback)

This first volume of John Bowlby's trilogy on Attachment and Loss expands and builds upon an article he published in 1958 in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis titled "The Nature of the Child's Tie to His Mother", which is perhaps a more telling title than that of the book itself. Attachment, as a technical term in behavioural biology, is first used in describing instinctive mother-following behaviours of young mammals and birds (first observed and reported in delightful accounts by the Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz in the 1930's).

By comparing data collected during and after the Second World War by childcare workers and researchers in U.K. and North America, Bowlby found a striking common pattern of distressed behaviours among young children between the ages of one and three when separated from mother for an extended period: first in Protest, then Despair and finally Detachment - a psychopathological state when a child becomes socially uninitiated and withdrawn, even to his returning mother. Bowlby then postulates that physical proximity to a mother-figure is essential to a child's development of cognitive capacities, especially during a sensitive period around six months to two years after birth. Attachment behaviours, like those of young mammals and birds, are present in the human baby too. This has since led to a blossoming of research activities in development psychology and psychoanalysis, as well as neurophysiology recently, which supplies much fresh evidence about the young brain and its phenomenal maturing in the first two years. Attachment theory has since contributed significantly to understanding of our own selves, informed the age-old philosophical debate on nature or nurture, and brought our attention to fundamental issues in child-rearing such as sensitive periods of development, the difference between attachment (conducive to security) and dependence (symptomatic of insecurity), the distinction between anxiety from separation and fear of the unfamiliar, etc.

This new edition is a timely reprint of a classic account of attachment theory as formulated by the originator. While primarily an academic work, with a few chapters deemed more for an academic jury (about Freud and instinctive behaviours, etc.), it is mostly very readable, and certainly captivating to those with access to young babies, of whose behaviours are given an enlightening perspective. This volume focuses on attachment, with subsequent volumes on its loss in temporary and permanent terms respectively.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars important, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Attachment: Second Edition (Basic Books Classics) (Paperback)

Classic, vitally important work. The writing is just so simple and clear, and the topic just so important, this book is quite worthwhile reading for any student (in the broadest sense) of psychology. Bowlby is an original researcher on attachment between infants and their caregivers. He describes his own and others' research projects and analyzes them in a theoretical framework about instinctive behavior. Why would it be important for children to have attachments? What sorts of attachments would we expect them to have, and what do they have? These are questions Bowlby addresses.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal work. Not yet surpassed, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Attachment: Second Edition (Basic Books Classics) (Paperback)

The work of John Bowlby (who was most certainly not a Behaviorist) is the work of genius. His importance in the field of developmental psychology has yet to be surpassed. It cannot be minimized.