Cornerstones of Attachment Research

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Attachment theory is among the most popular theories of human socioemotional development, with a global research community and widespread interest from clinicians, child welfare professionals, educationalists and parents. It has been considered "one of the most generative contemporary ideas" about family life in modern society. It is one of the last of the grand theories of human development that still retains an active research tradition. Attachment theory and research speak to fundamental questions about human emotions, relationships and development. They do so in terms that feel experience-near, with a remarkable combination of intuitive ideas and counter-intuitive assessments and conclusions. Over time, attachment theory seems to have become more, rather than less, appealing and popular, in part perhaps due to alignment with current concern with the lifetime implications of early brain development

Cornerstones of Attachment Research re-examines the work of key laboratories that have contributed to the study of attachment. In doing so, the book traces the development in a single scientific paradigm through parallel but separate lines of inquiry. Chapters address the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main and Hesse, Sroufe and Egeland, and Shaver and Mikulincer. Cornerstones of Attachment Research utilises attention to these five research groups as a lens on wider themes and challenges faced by attachment research over the decades. The chapters draw on a complete analysis of published scholarly and popular works by each research group, as well as much unpublished material.

Robbie Duschinsky, Senior University Lecturer, Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge

Robbie Duschinsky is Senior University Lecturer in Social Sciences in the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Studies at Sidney Sussex College. With Kate White he is the co-editor of Trauma and Loss: Key Texts from the John Bowlby Archive (Routledge). His study of attachment research has been supported by an Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust. As Head of the Applied Social Science Group within the Primary Care Unit, he leads a team conducting research on the development and contexts of mental illness in children and families. He has also published widely on the sociology of childhood.