ATTACHMENT ACTIVITIES

Motivational influences that are specifically social constitute the subject of this chapter. Social motives involve activities that affect interactions among organisms of the same species as well as organisms of other species. I will deal with only two issues in this short chapter: the formation and maintenance of social bonds between individuals; and that of pro-social and altruistic acts. The functional and proximate causal aspects of these phenomena will be considered in the analysis. The first and foremost social motive concerns the formation of the bond between an infant and its primary caretaker, usually the mother. The material in Chapter 3 deals with this issue from the perspective of the mother, whilst the material in this chapter complements it through an analysis of processes in the infant. The attachment of a human infant to its caretaker has biological roots. Both babies and adults are programmed by evolution to become attached in certain ways because the former is dependent upon the latter for survival. Attachment behaviours refer to a broad classification of behaviours that keep the infant in close proximity to an attachment figure. These behaviours include crying, clinging and approaching, as well as others produced when the infant is separated from the attachment figure.

Mammals live in a diverse array of habitats and social structures. The basic unit of the family is the mother and infant. However, our examination of material in Chapter 3 suggests that other conspecifics may be involved to some exent in infant caregiving. These caregivers can include the father, siblings or peers, or combinations of these conspecifics.