As the mother satisfies the baby's hunger, infants learn to prefer her. Human infants can become attached to people who do not feed them as well as to soft, cuddly objects. Today, ethological theory is the most widely accepted view of attachment. Bowlby's ethological theory of attachment views the infant's emotional tie to the mother as an evolved response that promotes survival. The human infant is endowed with a set of built-in behaviors that keep the parent nearby, which increases the chances that the infant will be protected from danger.
Babies exhibit separation anxiety when they become upset at the departure of a familiar caregiver.
They use caregivers as a secure base fromwhich they can explore the environment and return to for emotional support. An internal working model is a set of expectations derived from early caregiving experiences concerning the availability of attachment figures and their likelihood of providing support during times of stress. This becomes a guide for all future close relationships. The Strange Situation is a procedure for measuring the quality of attachment between ages one and two. It involves short separations from and reunions with the parent.