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Psychology vocabulary · Developmental Psychology

Attachment

Meaning in psychology, with examples

/əˈtætʃmənt/nounCore term

In psychology, attachment means: The deep emotional bond between a child and a caregiver, and the pattern of relating to others that grows from it and can continue into adulthood.

In Turkish: bağlanma

How it is used

Comes from attachment theory (Bowlby, Ainsworth). Researchers and clinicians talk about secure, anxious, avoidant and disorganised attachment, adult attachment styles and attachment figures.

Example sentences

  1. Toddlers with secure attachment explore more freely when their caregiver is nearby.

  2. In therapy we explored how her attachment style affects her relationships.

Common collocations

  • secure attachment
  • attachment style
  • attachment theory
  • attachment figure
  • insecure attachment
  • temperamentA child's inborn, biologically based style of reacting to the world, such as activity level, mood and how easily they adapt, which forms a basis for later personality.
  • developmental milestoneA skill that most children reach within a typical age range, such as smiling, sitting, walking or saying first words, used to track development.
  • personalityThe fairly stable pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from others and consistent across situations and over time.
  • adolescenceThe stage of development between childhood and adulthood, roughly from the start of puberty to the late teens or early twenties, with major physical, cognitive and social changes.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Developmental Psychology

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.