This accessible book draws on unique evidence from oral histories and little-known archive material to shed new light on the working relationships which led to John Bowlby’s shift from psychoanalysis to ethology as a frame of reference – and ultimately to the development of attachment theory.

• A unique exploration of the origins of Bowlby’s ideas and the critical transformation in his thinking – offers an alternative to standard accounts of the origin of attachment theory
• Explores the significance of Bowlby’s influential working relationships with Robert Hinde, Harry Harlow, James Robertson and Mary Ainsworth
• Provides students, academics, and practitioners with clear insights into the development of attachment theory
• Accessible to general readers interested in psychology and psychoanalysis

Frank C. P. van der Horst is a psychologist at De Waag Rotterdam, an outpatient clinic for forensic psychiatry, and a researcher at the Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University. His research aims at describing the history of ideas in the behavioural sciences, such as the ideas and work of John Bowlby, René Spitz, William Goldfarb, Jean Piaget, and Harry Harlow.