Attachment

An infant being immunized in Bangladesh

Parental responses lead to 'internal working models' which will guide the individual's feelings, thoughts, and expectations in later relationships. There are a number of attachments or a seriously disrupted capacity for attachment could potentially amount to serious disorders. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with the infant, and who remain as consistent caregivers for some time. Attachment and attachment behaviors tend to develop between the age of 6 months and 3 years.

Attachment is not the same as love and/or affection although they often go together. The forming of attachments is considered to be the foundation of the infant/child's capacity to form and conduct relationships throughout life. Attachment theory is primarily an evolutionary and ethological theory whereby the infant or child seeks proximity to a specified attachment figure in situations of alarm or distress, for the purpose of survival.