ABSTRACT
Themetaphor of attachment,whichBowlby (1969/1982) used to characterize the emotional bond between an infant and his or her primary caregiver, implies proximity, affection, and being “fastened on” (Oxford AmericanDictionary, 1980). How then could an attachment be “avoidant”? How could a magnet attracted to iron be, at the same time, repelled by it? Although the imagery seems improbable, one of Ainsworth’smajor categories of infant attachment to mother was avoidant (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters & Wall, 1978). This designation was based on the infant’s behavior in a laboratory assessment procedure called the strange situation (Ainsworth et al., 1978).
