CONCEPT
Attachment Theory
The developmental framework — Bowlby, Ainsworth, Schore — establishing that the quality of early caregiver responsiveness physically shapes the neural architecture of emotional regulation, and the substrate on which Maté's addiction analysis is built.
Attachment Theory is the developmental psychology tradition, originated by John Bowlby and operationalized by Mary Ainsworth, that established the quality of the infant-caregiver bond as the foundation of adult emotional regulation. The insecurely attached child — shaped by caregivers who were absent, inconsistent, overwhelmed, or emotionally unavailable — develops compensatory strategies for managing distress the attachment relationship failed to regulate. These strategies are ingenious, the best available adaptations to environments the child cannot change. They also persist into adulthood, where they shape the adult's relationship with substances, behaviors, and — in the AI moment — tools that simulate the attuned responsiveness the original caregiver failed to provide.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The theory's empirical foundation runs from Ainsworth's Strange Situation protocols through Allan Schore's work on the right hemisphere and early attachment to Bruce Perry's demonstration that childhood adversity produces measurable changes in brain architecture persisting into adulthood. The human infant is born with a radically