Attachment: Attachment refers to an enduring and selective emotional bond between a care seeker (e.g., a child) and their primary caregiver (e.g., a parent). When threatened or in distress, the care seeker displays support seeking behavior – the primary (secure) attachment strategy – to which the caregiver ideally responds swiftly and sensitively and thereby provides co-regulation and a felt sense of security. If the caregiver tends to be unavailable or their availability unpredictable, the care seeker develops secondary (insecure) attachment strategies associated with avoidance or anxiety, respectively. For more details on attachment concepts and terminology, please refer to this website made available by the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS).
defined by Pascal Vrtička