An introduction to attachment theory while completing an undergraduate degree in South Africa opened an opportunity to study at Johns Hopkins University with the recognized mother of attachment theory, Mary Ainsworth. My tenure with her was intensive but short, as she decided to leave Hopkins for Virginia, leading me to head further north to Yale, though not until Ainsworth had introduced me to both Melvin Konner (a distinguished anthropologist) and Urie Bronfenbrenner, a doyen of developmental psychology then determined to radically transform stuffy developmental psychology into a contextually sensitive sub-discipline. With Ainsworth and Bronfenbrenner as off-site mentors, William Kessen introduced sophisticated developmental theory while Edward Zigler expounded the importance of using research to inform social policy in pursuit of a better world for children.

This chapter charts soldiers’ journeys across the Western Front. Drawing on the concept of ‘place attachment’, it explains how men developed an emotional relationship with Belgium and France. Beginning with their arrival by boat, it narrates their experiences in ports, bases, and camps and from there through the countryside and towns to the frontlines. It follows this journey, investigating the processes by which English infantrymen explored and were exposed to the war zone. This allowed them to internalise and reconceptualise Belgium and France. Subtle psychological processes allowed men to familiarise the sights, sounds, and scents that they encountered. These were both conscious and unconscious products of both purposeful action and unconscious psychological mechanisms. Repeated exposure habituated soldiers to the sights, sounds, and scents that confronted them, even in the frontlines. Elsewhere, men made use of language to craft new narratives and to normalise the violence and death that surrounded them. They developed very personal relationships with landscapes, spaces, and places. The Western Front became the locus of important life experiences and memories and was littered with graves that represented personal and collective loss. The landscapes of Belgium and France became a metaphysical space as their features were increasingly associated with ideas of duty, German barbarity, and sacrifice.

This chapter focuses on the frameworks, or theories, that relationship scientists use to guide their study of romantic relationships. The chapter first explains evolutionary theory, which assumes that modern relationships reflect ingrained sex-specific adaptations to challenges derived from differential parental investment and affecting reproductive success. Next, the chapter reviews attachment theory, which contends that humans have an evolved attachment behavioral system that activates under threat and keeps people close to caring others. Attachment theory also explains how child–caregiver relationships can bias this attachment system, creating individual differences that persist into adulthood. A next major theory, interdependence theory, suggests that people rationally attempt to maximize their outcomes, though transformation of motivation can lead them to prioritize relationship outcomes as well. Finally, social ecological models highlight the role of the environment – and particularly stressful environments – to influence interpersonal dynamics. This chapter reviews, critiques, compares, and integrates each of the major theories that support relationship science.

This chapter examines Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Black couples. Important clinical considerations (e.g., racial realities of anti-Blackness) are provided that must be integrated within the EFT therapy model to provide an appropriate adaptation that is culturally responsive couples therapy. EFT and attachment theory will need to be significantly modified to be a culturally responsive therapy to meet the needs of Black couples. Adult attachment needs to be conceptualized from a network approach (e.g., multiple relationships/collectivism) instead of only a dyadic perspective. In addition, acculturation (i.e., racial identity), race/ethnicity, institutional decimation and Black sex ratios, marriage, anti-Black racism, internalized stereotypes (anti-Blackness), Strong Black Woman/Superwoman Schema, John Henryism, and religion and spirituality are all important factors to consider in providing culturally responsive care and clinical interventions that strengthen treatment approaches with Black couples.

Attachment theory is relevant in decision-making in out-of-home care as children’s early life experiences and relationships affect their wellbeing, sense of security, and future relationships (Bowlby, 1969). This chapter describes the development of attachment theory and key concepts, cultural considerations, use of attachment theory in child protection practice and practice examples of how attachment theory may be misunderstood and misapplied in out-of-home care. Attachment is a theory of how humans develop the capacity to form and maintain emotional relationships, and how these relationships influence our development and sense of self and others. In early life, attachment figures are typically parents, but over the course of development attachments can also form in other significant relationships. Children learn to regulate their emotions and behaviour through the attachment relationship. An attachment figure provides a ‘secure base’ and ‘safe haven’ from which to explore. In response to patterns of interaction, the child forms an attachment type, which is an adaptation to caregiver behaviour.

The psychoanalytic movement introduced the study of unconscious processes that influence human activity. The movement was fully consistent with the German model of mental activity, going back to the writings of Leibniz and Kant. Although act psychology and the Gestalt movement were also modern expressions of the German model, psychoanalysis emphasized the goal of a homeostatic balance of unconscious energies within personality. Its founder, Sigmund Freud, used his keen powers of observation to devise much-needed therapeutic approaches, and later expanded his formulations to a psychodynamic theory of personality growth dependent on tension reduction. Other theorists modified Freud’s model to include cultural influences (Jung) and social needs (Adler and Horney). In addition, scholars have integrated the psychoanalytic model with a field approach (Sullivan) and existential assumptions (Fromm). As a contemporary movement, psychoanalysis still exerts considerable influence in psychiatry and clinical psychology, although the movement is fragmented owing to a lack of methodological agreement. In addition, Freud’s statements on the unconscious have led to new interpretations of artistic expression. However, as a viable model for psychology, psychoanalysis has departed from the empirical foundations of psychology and shares little with other systems of psychology that rely on that methodological approach.

Throughout human evolutionary history, infants and children have been dependent on adult caregivers for survival. The care that adults give is greatly influenced by prevailing conditions, including the availability of food and their social contacts, and also by their own experience of care. We use an evolutionary perspective to discuss possible reasons why children may suffer trauma at the hands of their parents and consider how children have adapted in response to such trauma to maximise their chances of survival in order to reach reproductive age and produce their own offspring. We examine how child maltreatment might differ at the hands of mothers, fathers and step-parents and discuss parent–offspring conflict, life history theory, attachment theory and differential susceptibility to help explain the complexity of childhood trauma. We end with recommendations for clinical practice.

In this chapter, we provide a review of human attachment and bonding, from the perspective of attachment theory and with an eye towards evolutionary psychology and narrative methodologies. Attachment theory, a dominant paradigm in contemporary psychological science, is used to understand the processes by which people form, and the implications of, adaptive and maladaptive attachments across the lifespan. Distinct from its predecessors, including object relations theory and social learning theories of dependence, attachment theory is a curious combination of psychoanalytical, ethological, and evolutionary principles. Attachment theory was born out of an interest in understanding why infants desire a close physical proximity to their caregivers. This phenomenon is explained by the existence of an innate attachment behavioral system, a system that has evolved to aid the likelihood of survival throughout infancy and childhood and, later, reproduction. At the heart of the attachment behavioral system lies the internal working model of close relationships, believed to be largely formed on the basis of experiences in infancy and, to a lesser degree, beyond. Caregivers who are available and appropriately responsive are thought to contribute to the development of a secure attachment model, one in which the individual is comfortable depending on caregivers, and later being depended upon. When caregivers are less reliable, the attachment behavioral system may become upregulated, leading to an anxious orientation, defined by hypersensitivity to others’ availability and a preoccupation with potential loss and separation, or downregulated, leading to an avoidant orientation, defined by a desire for separation and independence. The attachment construct, which has been assessed using behavioral, projective, interview, and self-report methodologies, carries implications for functioning from the infant to the elderly, as well as the varied relationships that are entertained between these periods. In adulthood, romantic attachment may be plotted along continuous dimensions of anxiety and avoidance. These constructs are most often considered via self-report measures in which participants rate their affect, behaviors, and cognitions within romantic relationships. Incorporating evolutionary principles and life history theory, some have predicted, and some have found, sex differences in levels of insecure romantic attachment, with males demonstrating comparably heightened levels of avoidance and females demonstrating comparably heightened levels of anxiety. Here, we further exemplify this finding via the life stories of a small number of male and female cases with varying levels of avoidance and anxiety. As a species, we have evolved to possess both (i) a complex attachment behavioral system designed to help us thrive in the social world, and (ii) a tendency to perceive the social world, ourselves, and our relationships as a story. We conclude by signaling the need for further work exploring attachment, evolution, and lived experience.

Courts are regularly called upon to make judgments on aspects of children’s upbringing, particularly where parents separate and there are disputes around where children will live. In this chapter, the children’s rights issues which arise in cases regarding children’s upbringing are considered; particularly where they intersect with issues concerning elements of the discipline of psychology. Following an exploration of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its impact on the lives of children, two of the most important principles in the CRC are considered – the best interest principle (Art. 3) and principle of respect for the views of the child (Art. 12). The chapter then examines how an enhanced awareness and understanding of developmental psychology has impacted cases concerning children’s upbringing. Particularly contested issues in the area are then examined – children’s attachment to caregivers, children’s own wishes, shared residence and perceptions of mothers versus fathers.

Melanie Klein was the first child psychoanalyst who delineated the rich and astounding inner lives of infants and young children and demonstrated the fundamental importance of mothers’ roles in human development. She was one of the founders of the “object relation theory” school, and her concepts – including “projective identification,” “depressive position,” and “paranoid-schizophrenic position” – have remained influential in clinical practice. Klein grew up in an impoverished immigrant family and suffered from multiple losses during her childhood and young adulthood, including the death of her father and two of her siblings. During most of her adult life, she was weighed down by a very difficult marriage, as well as estrangement from her own children. Her decades’ long fights with Anna Freud made life even more difficult for her (and for others). Yet, she survived it all and went on to make major contributions. This chapter provides a sketch of Klein’s life, focusing on various difficulties confronting her throughout her life, and their relationship with her insights and contributions.

Anna Freud, the youngest of Freud’s six children, devoted her entire life to promoting psychoanalysis and taking care of Freud, professionally and personally. Along with Melanie Klein, she was the first to use psychoanalysis to treat child and adolescent patients, and is thus regarded as one of the “mothers” of psychoanalysis. She also conducted pioneering research on the plight of children during wars and the care of orphans and children who were separated from their mothers. As a neglected child herself, she battled severe depression and anorexia during adolescence. After five years of “secret” psychoanalysis with her father, she emerged as a total devotee of him and his cause, and became a fervent defender of his legacy. Significantly, Anna’s professional career coincided with her intense relationship with Dorothy Burlingham, an heiress of the Tiffany fortune, whose four children were among the first child patients treated by Anna. The two became lifelong “partners” for the last four decades of their lives, eventually living together and co-owning a number of properties. Irrespective of whether they were lesbian lovers, their solid bond served them well and contributed to the success of their remarkable careers.

Sadness and fear are usually considered as basic emotions. In society and in education, they are normally cast as undesirable, but also as partly unavoidable. This chapter examines sadness, fear, and anxiety in society and education. It argues that these feelings should not be judged as simply negative, devoid of value or positive function. On the other hand, they should be critically considered and explored, rather than simply accepted, in education and society. Neither good nor bad in themselves, feelings of sadness, fear, and anxiety can be righteous, functional, and normal, and interrelated with critical understanding. Yet they can also be problematic and pathological in other cases.

“There are few blows to the human spirit so great as the loss of someone near and dear,” wrote Bowlby in one of many groundbreaking papers.

Insecurely attached people have less happy, more unstable romantic relationships, but the quality of their relationships should depend on how their partners regulate them. Some partners find ways to buffer (emotionally and behaviorally regulate) insecurely attached individuals, which can make them feel better, behave more constructively, and improve their relationships. Understanding when, how, and why this important interpersonal process works requires a dyad-centered approach. In this chapter, we first review key tenets of attachment theory and the two primary forms of attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance). We then discuss the Dyadic Regulation of Attachment Insecurity Model, which outlines how and why certain types of buffering behaviors should soothe the worries and improve the relationship perceptions and behaviors of highly anxious and highly avoidant people. Following this, we discuss recent studies that illustrate some of the ways in which partners can successfully buffer the insecure reactions of highly anxious and highly avoidant individuals and how they can develop and maintain more “secure” environments. We conclude by suggesting future studies that might extend these recent findings and compare our model with some of the core concepts of Emotion-Focused Therapy.

People often use relationships to characterize and describe places. Some places are described as warm, friendly, and welcoming. Others as cold, harsh, and unwelcoming. Is there any truth to these colloquialisms? How influential is the broader geographic context in affecting our close relationships? Where do people have the happiest relationships and why? In this chapter, I review recent research on geographic variation in relationship-related constructs and outcomes. The review will also feature some empirical examples and methodological considerations for studying geographic variation in close relationships and how they are expressed. A large portion of the chapter will be a discussion on the mechanisms that give rise to geographic variation in relationship-related constructs and behavior that unfold over different time scales. Step-by-step modules and supplementary information for asking geographic questions at different levels of analysis will be provided. Finally, I will conclude with unanswered conceptual and methodological questions related to the study of geographic variation in close relationship behavior.

Turner and colleagues (this volume) have written a thoughtful and comprehensive overview of theory and research across a vast literature: environmental and sociocultural influences on the development of personality disorders (PDs). They review behavioral genetics studies and studies on the prevalence of PDs in different countries and from different socioeconomic backgrounds. They describe a wide variety of theories of how PDs develop and review environmental risk factors from early childhood adversity to the quality of communities. This commentary, focusing on borderline PD (for which there is the most research), extends this work in two ways. First, the authors propose an overarching theory of environmental and sociocultural influences on the development of PDs. Second, they add empirical support for two of the theories that Turner and colleagues present: attachment and biosocial theories. In this way, the authors aim to identify processes underlying the development of PDs that may be the focus of interventions. An appropriate intervention at the level of the individual would include Young’s Schema Therapy (Young, 1994), and at the level of the family system the Family Connections Program (Hoffman et al., 2005).