Perspective on attachment

The intimate emotional bond between the child and the attachment figure represents an instinctual process in the individual's development as part of a society. How the child goes through this period is reflected in the process of social integration. To understand the dyad formed between the child and the attachment figure, the concepts of the secure base and internal working models were introduced. The formation of internal working models includes mental representations, memory, cognitive schemas, and represents the source of attachment behavior in various adult relationships. Lived experiences allow the creation of predictive scenarios. The attachment style reflects the attempt to solve the scenario of a secure base in which the availability and sensitivity of the attachment figure are defining. The triggering of attachment behavior involves exposure to a situation perceived as dangerous or involving a state of discomfort requiring the intervention of the attachment figure. Such a scenario involves the activation of neurobiological systems to restore balance. Deficient homeostasis is attributed to experiencing negative feelings, bodily sensations being associated with emotions. Models have been developed to explain the early relationship of the child with the attachment figure as a source in the manifestation of attachment style. Models based on attachment theory consider the fear system as an essential element in explaining attachment behavior. There is also a model in which the need for attachment manifests even in the absence of fear situations by introducing processes related to the need for care. Through the proposed dyadic system coherent clarifications and additions are brought starting from the understanding of the origin of the attachment system. The place of emotion emergence is attributed to subcortical areas, showing a dynamization of attachment through primary emotional systems. The emergence of new methods, tools, and technologies for investigating the human brain makes it possible to study attachment in-depth from a neuroscientific perspective. This interdisciplinary field of attachment neuroscience constitutes a solid foundation for understanding it.