ABSTRACT
The major impetus for the empirical study of attachment was the development of a convincing methodology for assessing infant attachment. The chapter reviews the early development of attachment before considering its assessment. There are now many accounts of the initial development of the primary infant - caregiver relationship. Much of current attachment research and theorizing about individual differences was made possible by the fortuitous emergence of the strange situation as a paradigm for assessing infant attachment. This paradigm played a pivotal role in the development of attachment research. First, it provided one of the few standardized validated instruments for assessing infant - parent relationships. Secondly, it served as the basis for the development of other measures both in infancy and in later age periods. The chapter examines the logic of the strange situation, the associated classification scheme and the strengths and limitations of alternative approaches to attachment assessment.
