ABSTRACT
Although John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst by formal training, he was a true ethologist at heart. His love for the out-of-doors and his keen eye for observation made him naturally responsive to the basic tenets of classical ethological theory and methodology. Indeed, he readily recognized certain common features of psychoanalytic and ethological theorizing, for example, a belief in the biological basis of fundamental behavioral tendencies and an interest in the long-term consequences of specific early experiences. But Bowlby also argued frequently and passionately that many basic features of human development could be better understood by focusing on external relationships rather than on internalized psychic struggles among the id, ego, and superego. He treasured the insights that he believed direct observation of behavior in naturalistic contexts could provide over and above any analysis of an individual’s unconscious memories and desires. When Bowlby first articulated these views, they were considered heretical, but today his original insights are widely accepted across a broad range of disciplines, including both ethology and psychoanalysis.
