The emergence of the disorganized/disoriented (D) attachment classification, 1979–1982
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Authors
Publication Date
2015-02Journal Title
History of Psychology
ISSN
1093-4510
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
32-46
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Duschinsky, R. (2015). The emergence of the disorganized/disoriented (D) attachment classification, 1979–1982. History of Psychology, 18 (1), 32-46. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038524
Abstract
This article examines the emergence of the concept of infant disorganized/disoriented attachment, drawing on published and archival texts and interviews. Since this new classification was put forward by Main and Solomon (1986), “disorganized/disoriented attachment” has become an important concept in clinical and social intervention contexts. Yet whereas Main and Solomon have often been misunderstood to have introduced disorganized/disoriented attachment in order to produce an exhaustive, categorical system of infant classifications, this article will suggest quite a different account. Attention will be paid to the emergence of disorganized attachment as a classification out of results and reflections in the late 1970s regarding the limits of an alarmed infant’s capacities for maintaining behavioral and attentional avoidance. In contrasting this interpretation of Main and Solomon’s work with current, widespread misunderstandings, the article will critically examine tendencies that have supported the reification and misapplication of the concept of disorganized/disoriented attachment.
Keywords
attachment, anomaly, classification, developmental psychology, Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (103343/Z/13/A)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038524
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/254439
Rights
Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/
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