The American contribution to attachment theory:John Bowlby’s WHO trip to the USA in 1950 and the development of his ideas on separation and attachment

This paper explores John Bowlby’s foundational contributions to attachment theory, particularly his fascination with ‘separation’ and its impact on child development. Tracing the origins of Bowlby’s interest to his personal experiences and his exposure to ideas of mental hygiene and child guidance in the 1930s, it underscores the alignment of his ideas with key figures in the English school of psychoanalysis. The central narrative of this paper unfolds during Bowlby’s 1950 WHO research trip, investigating orphaned and separated children in Europe and the USA. Utilizing archival materials from the Wellcome Library in London, the authors offer unique insights into Bowlby’s journey, highlighting his evolving views on mother-child separation through interactions with his American colleagues. This comprehensive exploration sheds light on Bowlby’s pioneering work, emphasizing the American influence on his ideas, and the evolving theoretical framework that continues to shape our understanding of child development and attachment today.</p

The nature of love: Harlow, Bowlby and Bettelheim on affectionless mothers

Harry Harlow, famous for his experiments with rhesus monkeys and cloth and wire mothers, was visited by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby and by child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1958. They made similar observations of Harlow’s monkeys, yet their interpretations were strikingly different. Bettelheim saw Harlow’s wire mother

A tale of four countries: How Bowlby used his trip through Europe to write the WHO report and spread his ideas

Attachment theory, developed by child psychiatrist John Bowlby, is considered a major theory in developmental psychology. Attachment theory can be seen as resulting from Bowlby's personal experiences, his psychoanalytic education, his subsequent study of ethology, and societal developments during the 1930s and 1940s. One of those developments was the outbreak of World War II and its effects on children's psychological wellbeing. In 1950, Bowlby was appointed WHO consultant to study the needs of children who were orphaned or separated from their families for other reasons and needed care in foster homes or institutions. The resulting report is generally considered a landmark publication in psychology, although it subsequently met with methodological criticism. In this paper, by reconstructing Bowlby's visit to several European countries, on the basis of notebook

To Moscow with Love: Partial Reconstruction of Vygotsky’s Trip to London

The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) left the Soviet Union only once to attend a conference on the education of the deaf in London. So far almost nothing was known about this trip, which took place in a period when Vygotsky was still completely unknown as a psychologist, both inside his own country and abroad. Making use of a newly discovered notebook, it proved possible to partially reconstruct Vygotsky’s journey and stay in London. Vygotsky’s very personal remarks show him to have been a very sensitive and spirited man, who was prey to strong emotions during the conference and afterwards. Rather surprisingly, Vygotsky’s own paper about the education of the deaf was never presented during the conference and the stay in London appears to have had a limited value for his own scientific development

Vigotski como filósofo da ciência

The Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) is now generally accepted as a major figure in the history of psychology. Selections from his work have been translated into many languages and his ideas have inspired contemporary thinkers as Jerome Bruner (e.g. Bruner, 1985), Stephan Toulmin (1978), and Roman Jakobson (1985). He published articles and books on such diverse topics as schizophrenia, thought and language, intelligence testing, and disabled children (Van der Veer, 1985). It is less generally known, however, that he was also a methodologist in the Russian sense of the word, that is, one who analyzes basic assumptions and concepts of various psychological currents and psychology in general. Such a methodologist thus has to be both a knowledgeable historian of psychology and a philosopher of science. Vygotsky combined these qualities and it is our conviction that his importance for psychology lies precisely in his methodological work. It is the way Vygotsky tackled psychology's age-old problems, such as the nature-nature issue and the mind-body problem that makes him one of the major psychologists of this century.O psiclogo sovitico Lev Vigotski (1896-1934) aceito atualmente como uma figura importante na histria da psicologia. Selees de seu trabalho foram traduzidas em vrias lnguas e suas ideias inspiraram pensadores contemporneos, como Jerome Bruner (por ex. Bruner, 1985), Stephan Toulmin (1978) e Roman Jakobson (1985). Ele publicou artigos e livros sobre temas diversos, como esquizofrenia, pensamento e linguagem, teste de inteligncia e crianas com deficincia (Van der Veer, 1985). Mas, comumente, desconhece-se que ele era igualmente um metodlogo no sentido russo da palavra, ou seja, algum que analisou vrias hipteses e conceitos de diversas correntes psicolgicas e da psicologia em geral. Um metodlogo desse estilo precisa ser igualmente um historiador da psicologia e um filsofo da cincia. Vigotski combinava tais qualidades e nossa convico que sua importncia para a psicologia fundamenta-se precisamente em seu trabalho metodolgico. a maneira pela qual Vigotski lidou com os problemas antigos da psicologia, como os das relaes natureza-cultura e mente-corpo que fez dele um dos maiores psiclogos de nosso sculo

A tale of four countries: How Bowlby used his trip through Europe to write the WHO report and spread his ideas

Attachment theory, developed by child psychiatrist John Bowlby, is considered a major theory in developmental psychology. Attachment theory can be seen as resulting from Bowlby's personal experiences, his psychoanalytic education, his subsequent study of ethology, and societal developments during the 1930s and 1940s. One of those developments was the outbreak of World War II and its effects on children's psychological wellbeing. In 1950, Bowlby was appointed WHO consultant to study the needs of children who were orphaned or separated from their families for other reasons and needed care in foster homes or institutions. The resulting report is generally considered a landmark publication in psychology, although it subsequently met with methodological criticism. In this paper, by reconstructing Bowlby's visit to several European countries, on the basis of notebooks and letters, the authors shed light on the background of this report and the way Bowlby used or neglected the findings he gathered

Vygotsky in English: What Still Needs to Be Done

At present readers of English have still limited access to Vygotsky’s writings. Existing translations are marred by mistakes and outright falsifications. Analyses of Vygotsky’s work tend to downplay the collaborative and experimental nature of his research. Several suggestions are made to improve this situation. New translations are certainly needed and new analyses should pay attention to the contextual nature of Vygotsky’s thinking and research practice