2005 Awardees

Inge Bretherton Historian To The Bowlby-Ainsworth Tradition. For Bridging Attachment, Cognition, And Language

John Bowlby recognized very early that cognitive psychology might provide rigorous interpretations and empirical underpinnings for key attachment insights. But the cognitive psychology of his day was not up to the task. Although cognitive psychology rapidly matured, its advances were largely inaccessible to researchers trained in the ethological-observational tradition. Inge Bretherton was the first attachment theorist truly conversant with modern cognitive psychology, theories of mental representation, and the origins of communication. Soon after completing her dissertation with Mary Ainsworth, she and Elizabeth Bates conducted landmark work on the child’s first symbolic representations and on the cognitive and social prerequisites of early language use. She wrote early and insightfully on the ability to talk about emotional states, social referencing, and early attachment representations. She was also the first to point out the relevance of event representation theory for understanding the working models concept. Today, these contributions are recognized as essential to the cognitive underpinnings of attachment theory. Inge has also served informally as the historian of attachment study. Her interest in our history, wonderfully researched and retold, and her generosity to others writing about this history are lasting contributions to the Bowlby-Ainsworth tradition.

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