ABSTRACT
When attachment is conceived of as a particular form of behavior, the criteria used to establish its existence are that the infant differentiates the object of attachment from other objects and that the infant displays characteristic affective responses to the presence and absence of the object. These criteria lend themselves to relatively easily testable hypotheses, and Bowlby’s followers (Ainsworth, Sroufe, Main, and others) have conclusively demonstrated differentiation from the mother and specific affective responses to her presence and absence by one year of age.
