Attachment as Regulation: A Commentary

PIPP, SANDRA, and HARMON, ROBERT J. Attachment as Regulation: A Commentary. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1987, 58, 648-652. In our commentary, we show how Hofer's work alters the traditional perspective on human attachment in important ways. Hofer describes 2 components of attachment: one that does not develop and one that does. Drawing on work with rodents and primates, Hofer suggests that one component of attachment that does not develop is the sensorimotor or homeostatic regulation between members of a dyad, a stable aspect of all intimate relations throughout the life span. We suggest that this component of attachment in humans may be especially important in the first 6 months of life, a period for which no current theory of attachment provides adequate explanation. Second, Hofer has shown that some components of homeostatic regulation change with development through physiological maturation of organs, internalization of function, and distribution of regulation. We suggest that, in humans, the development of an internal working model can lead to increasing internalization of these functions as well as distribution of regulation among a number of close relationships.