[A new approach to the attachment process and the child functioning]

Abstract

Following the introduction dealing with the scientific sources which influenced John Bowlby in his elaborating the theory of attachment, the present article relates some of the major advances Bowlby's theory gave rise to and facilitated in fundamental research, clinical practice and the drawing up of new concepts. The main part of the article is devoted to the concept of core-competency. Indeed, this concept permits to take into account in a combined manner individual development, processes of attachment, and behaviour adjustments, from birth throughout infancy. Core-competencies are organisational nuclei that allow every child to associate, combine, cluster and integrate various pieces of information of the surrounding world by making them compatible with his idiosyncrasies, be they innate or acquired as the days go by, be they biological or psychological. Five core-competencies have emerged from studies about mother-child interactions, from experimental research on the interactions between young children and from ethological observations of groups of children under controlled conditions: sustained visual attention, desire for interaction, affiliative behaviour, imitation and the structured organisation of gestures. The theory of attachment, the data of fundamental research, in particular those concerning core-competencies, and clinical observation lead to a new perspective for interpreting child constructions. The rooting of the child in a secure attachment, the non-thwarted genesis of his/her time organisation and of his/her bio-psychological rhythms, the possibilities given to him/her to appropriate space and its various dimensions, allow him/her to settle in affective security. Hence he/she can release his/her emotions and affects and make his/her core-competencies legible and functional. Conditions are then fulfilled for him/her to release his latent cognitive processes, master his/her cognitive acquisitions and structure his/her imagination.