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1 results

  • 16 - Social Motivation: Belonging, Affiliation, and Attachment

  • Frederick Toates, Open University
  • Book:
    Motivational Systems
    Published online:
    26 June 2026
    Print publication:
    23 July 2026, pp 326-341

  • Summary

    Humans are essentially social creatures, motivated to seek and enjoy human contact. This property is shared with a number of non-human species, a conserved characteristic. Belonging confers essential functional advantages; for example, defence against predators. Attachment is based upon a socially directed motivational system, which provides for flexible behaviour. The chapter describes the attachment theory of Bowlby and Ainsworth, types of attachment and the notion of an internal working model. The theory derived support from imprinting in geese and Harlow’s studies on monkeys. fMRI studies reveal some of the brain bases of attachment. The chapter describes Panksepp’s brain opioid theory of social attachment. Underlying attachment, dopamine and oxytocin interact, exemplified by pair-bonding in the prairie vole. Motivation rooted in aversion is described in the cases of loneliness and social rejection. Could brain opioids help to explain why victims of domestic abuse so often return to their abuser?