Attachment behavior : [proceedings of the Fifth Annual Symposium on Communication and Affect held at Erindale College, University of Toronto, March 1975

In social development, second in occurrence is not necessarily second in importance. For most social behaviors, events that occur after infancy have the greatest priority for understanding contemporary social adaptation. 1 Accordingly, this essay is addressed to what happens "beyond attachment," or, more generally, to how interactions are maintained and changed in ontogeny. In the course of development, the individual necessarily relates to others-in playing, in fighting, in working, in mating, in caring for the young. These interchanges are as critical for the survival of the species as the mother-infant relationship is for the survival of the young. Consideration of how they are linked to the initial social attachment and to each other brings us immediately to the nuclear issues of social fixedness, continuity of relationships, and social adaptation; in short, to the dynamics of interactional development. ## Attachment and the Establishment of Interactions Before going beyond social attachment, it seems worthwhile to consider briefly how the interchanges of attachment themselves arise. Systematic efforts 1 Adaptation is a slippery concept that requires definition at the onset. In this chapter I do not use it as synonymous with health, normality, happiness, or contentment. Rather, it is used in its accepted biological meaning, which is "adjustment to environmental conditions; specifically modification of an animal or plant (or its parts or organs) fitting it more perfectly for existence under the conditions of its environment." Social adaptation to some environments requires the development of activities that may depart markedly from the norm of the species. Front Matter....Pages i-x Beyond Social Attachment: The Dynamics of Interactional Development....Pages 1-24 An Ethological—Cognitive Model for the Attenuation of Mother—Child Attachment Behavior....Pages 25-60 Establishing New Social Relations in Infancy....Pages 61-79 Brief Separation and Communication between Infant and Mother....Pages 81-107 Experiments on Mother-Infant Interaction Underlying Mutual Attachment Acquisition: The Infant Conditions the Mother....Pages 109-143 Peers, Parents, and Primates: The Developing Network of Attachments....Pages 145-176 Pheromonal Mediation of Maternal Behavior....Pages 177-196 Development of Attachment and Other Social Behaviors in Rhesus Monkeys....Pages 197-224 Back Matter....Pages 225-229