Psychology · Developmental Psychology
A topic within Developmental Psychology, itself one of 11 topics in that field and part of Psychology.
2 works
Harry F. Harlow
Infant rhesus monkeys chose to cling to a soft cloth surrogate mother over a wire one that dispensed their milk, arguing that contact comfort, not feeding, is the basis of an infant's attachment to its caregiver.
link checked 17 Sept 2026John Bowlby
Argues an infant's bond to its mother is a primary instinctual system in its own right, built from component responses such as sucking, clinging and following, rather than a secondary attachment learned because the mother supplies food.