ABSTRACT
The notion that a mental model of social objects is maintained by renewed contact with these objects amounts to saying that relationships between individuals are maintained. The various sensory qualities of the mother provide feedback for, or re-affirm, the child's mental model of his mother and the social context in which his relationship is located. The essence of the model is that incongruity between "input" and an individual's cognitive map activates negative-feedback mechanisms designed to create "congruity". The maintenance of cognitive maps is accomplished through feedback from the external objects of which they are maps. When feedback is unobtainable, the cognitive map begins to "break down", that is, individuals lose their sense of identity and relatedness to others. The hypothesis of inhibition by sensory feedback integrates behavioral and psychophysiological concepts pertaining to "stress" and to the development and maintenance of social attachments. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
