1 Bowlby's Secure Base Theory and the Social/ Personality Psychology of Attachment Styles: Work(s) in Progress A Commentary on Shaver & Mikulincer’s Attachment-related Psychodynamics

John Bowlby's goal in developing modern attach-ment theory was to preserve what he considered some of Freud's most valuable insights about human development and close relationships. First among these were insights into the importance of early ex-perience and the notion that infant-mother and adult-adult relationships are similar in kind. Focus-sing on prospective and observational methods, Bowlby replaced Freud's drive reduction model of relationship motivation with one that emphasized the role relationships play in support of exploration and competence. He also introduced concepts from control systems theory to highlight and account for the complex monitoring of internal states, relation-ship experience, and context that shapes proximit