ABSTRACT
It seems to me at this time that it would be appropriate to raise certain puzzling questions concerning the psychobiological development of the child. This area of difficulty is well stated in a recent paper by Bowlby (1953) called: ‘Some Pathological Processes set in train by Early Mother-Child Separation.’ He says in conclusion:
‘Such experimental work as exists suggests that responses learnt under stress are far more resistant to extinction than those learnt when the organism is relaxed, and that exposure to one stress situation has significant effects on later reaction to another by lowering the threshold of susceptibility.
‘Thus we find ourselves confronted with the laws governing initial learning by immature organisms in conditions of stress. Unfortunately the overwhelming majority of experiments in the field of learning study exactly the opposite state of affairs—the laws governing later learning in mature organisms not in conditions of stress. It is evident, therefore, that if learning theory is to help us with these central problems of psychopathology, it will need to be extended to cover the special conditions described. Such an extension is greatly to be desired, since it seems likely that it will establish the link between human psychopathology and studies of experimental neurosis.’
