ABSTRACT
We speak of forming a bond with another person, a bond of friendship or a bond of love. A bond is something which ties things or people together. Bonding is a first step in forming a relationship.
It is often used to mean an attachment, for example psychologists speak of ‘attachment bonds’. However, as I suggested in the introductory chapter of this book, we can make a subtle distinction between the bonding process, which is part of the initial stages of relationship formation, and the attachments which are the ultimate end of this process. To my mind, bonding is less of a cognitive or mental process than attachment, which is why psychologists largely talk about bonding in some non-human animals and attachment in primates and humans, and bonding in the early weeks and months of infant development.
