Modern theories about attachment started with Freud who was born in 1856 and died in 1939.

Freud suggested that an infant's emotional tie to his/her mother is the foundation for later relationships. Subsequent research on the outcomes of early attachment has been consistent with Freud's idea.


From: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ATTACHMENT

Then came the man who is called the father of attachment; John Bowlby. John was born in 1907 and died in 1990. Around 1930 he worked as a volunteer with "maladjusted children". This experience greatly impacted him. He decided to continue with his studies and applied to British Psychoanalytic Society where he was promptly accepted. He was trained in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.


In 1940 John published a paper where he expressed:

very strongly that psychoanalysis was putting far too much emphasis on the child's fantasy world and far too little on actual events


From: A BRIEF SKETCH OF JOHN BOWLBY'S BIOGRAPHY

In the 1940's he studied the "mother-child separation" that happened when children were treated at hospitals. And in 1952 he made a film called, "A Two Year Old Goes To Hospital" which changed how children were treated in British hospitals. Parents were allowed to stay with their children.


Then there is

his study "Maternal Care and Mental Health," published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1952, sparked interest and controversy that continues even today. In his research, Bowlby studied children confined to institutions and found them deficient in emotional and personality development. Bowlby's conclusion that maternal deprivation had caused the deficiencies stimulated future studies of infant-mother bonding and the effects of early separation.

From: Bowlby, John (1907-1990)

Here is a list of John's writings over the years.


John pulled together many of his thoughts and started publishing papers on Attachment Theory in 1957, 1959 and 1960. His first paper in 1957 caused

quite a storm at the Psychoanalytic Society

From: A BRIEF SKETCH OF JOHN BOWLBY'S BIOGRAPHY

Anna Freud (Sigmund Freud's daughter) was a respected psychologist. In her career she focused on children and their development. She reacted positively toward John's theory.


Here is a link to his attachment theory.


Mary Ainsworth was born in 1913 and died in 1999. She worked with John Bowlby and published some papers with him. She is considered

The second great pioneer of attachment theory, Mary Ainsworth (1969; 1985; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), developed the well-known laboratory based procedure for observing infant’s internal working models in action. Infants, briefly separated from their caregiver in a situation unfamiliar to them, show one of four patterns of behaviour.

From: Transgenerational Consistencies of Attachment: A New Theory

Mary is the one who developed the attachment labels; secure, anxious/avoidant, anxious/resistant and disorganised/disoriented.