ABSTRACT
In this chapter we outline the concept of attachment and the basis of this concept in four areas of research: psychanalysis; social learning theory; cognitive psychology; and evolutionary biology. John Bowlby, the originator of attachment theory, drew from the strengths of each of these sources, contributing to the insightfulness of his ideas and their broad relevance. Not all the tensions between the sources were resolved, however. This contributed to ambiguities in his ideas and made it difficult for people to understand them.
