The English psychoanalyst John Bowlby derived an alternative understanding of the core relationship function between adults based on his observation of infants and their mothers. It represents the earliest stages of relating in the pre-Oedipal phase of development.
His attachment theory has come increasingly into prominence as a result of neuroscientific research in the past decade.
Bowlby observed that in infancy our earliest relationships with our primary caregiver (usually the mother) influence us throughout our lives.
