Le colloque imaginaire : une génération plus tard

Abstract

Whereabout is attachment, a quarter of a century after René Zazzo 's « imaginary conference » ? The debate with psychoanalysis has been dismissed and is no longer up to date, as attachment theory firmly stands on its own in the field of developmental psychology and that it refers to specific concepts and methods that have been widely accepted. It proposes to enlarge the concept to all ages, and its essentiel input in the understanding of developmental psychopathology and of inter generational transmission, no longer needs to be proven. The debate would rather emerge from psychology and it points out certain fields in which precisions regarding attachment theory still need to be given, such as the question of temperament or the role of the father. This special issue presents fundamental texts by Mary Main, who integrated adulthood into attachment theory, by Klaus and Karin Grossman, Robert Karen and Geneviève Bailey guier. These essays are followed by two research reports, one by Miljkovitch de Heredia et al. and another by Dubeau and Moss. These studies raise the question of how much attachment theory, because of its huge success, can maintain its great creative potential.