A Short History of Attachment Theory: From Orphanages to Adult Love
From Bowlby's wartime orphanage observations to Ainsworth's Strange Situation and Hazan & Shaver bringing attachment into adult love—how the theory came to be.
Foundations
Start with the roots of attachment theory: where it came from and how the four types map out.
Why start with the theory
Attachment theory is not invented by influencers. It is a psychological framework with over fifty years of research, repeatedly validated across cultures. It began with John Bowlby's observations of post-WWII orphans, became measurable through Mary Ainsworth's "Strange Situation" studies, was extended to adult romantic relationships by Hazan and Shaver in 1987, and has been refined since by researchers and therapists including Mikulincer, Shaver, Sue Johnson, Levine, and Tatkin.
The value of understanding this framework is not about labeling yourself. It is about gaining a language for feelings that are otherwise hard to describe. When you can say "I feel abandoned" and "this is my anxious attachment system sounding an alarm", you have already moved from reacting to understanding—and understanding is the first step toward change.
The two articles in this category cover the theory's history (so you can judge how trustworthy its conclusions are) and a one-page map of the four styles (so you can locate yourself). We suggest reading history first, then the map.
Further reading: Sources · Four Types Overview · A Brief History of Attachment Theory
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