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Attachment theory describes the essential development of a relationship between a child and a primary caregiver, and what determines this development. In order to develop into a healthy, secure adult, a baby must have a solid foundation and a trust in their caregivers' response to their needs. In this crucial developmental period of a child's life, the consistency of caregiving and social interactions lay the groundwork for a child to feel safe and loved.

History
Developed by John Bowlby in 1958 and reinforced by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s, the attachment theory analyzes how critical the parent-child relationship is in determining the rest of the child's life and mannerisms. Bowlby started by analyzing maternal deprivation of orphans after World War II, which lead him to the idea of a sensitivity period of a child's life, in which certain stimuli and responses must occur in order for the child to be a functional, social adult. Bowlby proposed that a baby develops an idea from the love and care it receives, and deemed this idea as an internal working model. This model represents how the child thinks about itself, its parents, and other attachment figures. If the child develops a positive internal working model from the love and care it receives, it will be more functional and comfortable in social situations. Mary Ainsworth reinforced these ideas by developing the concept of several attachment patterns: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, ambivalent attachment, and disorganized attachment. She studied the dynamics of these relationships between mothers and their children in several different locations, and tested the quality of the relationship through "The Strange Situation" experiment.