The concept of attachment is discussed with respect to the search for explanations of social-developmental phenomena. A distinction between explanation and description is predicated as useful when applied to assessing the ecological validity and predictive utility of research on attachment. It is concluded that, while the concept has had heuristic value, it is naturally constrained in the contributions it can make as an explanation of social development.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AinsworthM. D. S.BellS. M.Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 1970, 41, 49–67.
2.
BergmannG.Psychoanalysis and experimental psychology. Mind, 1943, 12, 122–140.
3.
BowlbyJ.Attachment and loss. Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books, 1969.
4.
CairnsR. B.Social development: The origins and plasticity of interchanges. San Francisco: Freeman, 1979.
5.
ColeL. C.Biological dock of the unicorn. Science, 1957, 125, 874–876.
6.
GarnerW. R.HakeH. W.EriksenC. W.Operationism and the concept of perception. Psychological Review, 1956, 63, 149–159.
7.
GibsonJ. J.The concept of the stimulus in psychology. American Psychologist, 1960, 15, 694–703.
8.
GoldbergS.Social competence in infancy: A model of parent-child interaction. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1977, 23, 163–177.
9.
HamiltonW. D.The genetical evolution of social behavior. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1964, 7, 1–52.
10.
LeventhalH.The integtation of emotion and cognition: A view from the perceptual-motor theory of emotion. In ClarkM.FiskeS. (Eds.), Affect and cognition. NJ: Erlbaum, 1982. Pp. 121–156.
11.
MastersJ. C.WellmanH. M.The study of human infant attachment: A procedural critique. Psychological Bulletin, 1974, 81, 218–237.
12.
McCallR. B.Challenges to a science of developmental psychology. Child Development, 1977, 48, 333–344.
13.
MookD. G.In defense of external invalidity. American Psychologist, 1983, 38, 379–387.
14.
MorrisonF. J.Current issues in theory construction. Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 98–107.
15.
NunnallyJ. C.Psychometric theory. (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.
16.
RosenblumL. A.HarlowH. F.Approach-avoidance conflict in the mother-surrogate situation. Psychological Reports, 1963, 12, 83–85.
17.
SoraciS. A.Jr.An extension of the concept of affordance to behavior. Psychologia, 1982, 25, 40–52.
18.
TriversR. L.Parent-offspring conflict. American Zoologist, 1974, 14, 249–264.
19.
TurveyM. T.Contrasting orientations to the theory of visual information processing. Psychological Review, 1977, 84, 67–88.
20.
TurveyM. T.ShawR. E.ReedE. S.MaceW. M.Ecological laws of perceiving and acting: In reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn (1981). Cognition, 1981, 9, 237–304.
21.
WatersE.SroufeL.Social competence as a developmental construct. Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 79–97.
22.
WatersE.WippmanJ.SroufeL. A.Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: Two studies in construct validation. Child Development, 1979, 50, 821–829.
23.
WilcoxS.KatzS.The ecological approach to development: An alternative to cognitivism. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1981, 32, 247–263.
24.
ZajoncR. B.Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 1980, 35, 151–175.
