This critical appraisal of contemporary interpretations in the area of infantile attachment begins with an outline of the principal features of the Bowlby-Ainsworth ethological theory, the instrumental/operant learning theory of Gewirtz, and Hoffman's classical conditioning model. Some attention is also given to Cairns's contiguity learning analysis and the Hoffman-Solomon opponentprocess model Discussion of these theories is followed by a review of representative data from infants at four phyletic levels (precocial birds, dogs, monkeys, and human beings), with an emphasis on three aspects of social bonding: (a) the formation and persistence of social ties in the infant under conditions of maltreatment, (b) the role of the attachment object in the adjustment of the infant to the broader environment (the so-called secure base effect), and (c) the infant's reaction to involuntary separation from the attachment object.An attempt is made to judge how well each of the interpretations accounts for all or part of the data, with the conclusion that current theories do not accord completely with documented attachment phenomena. The following criticisms are highlighted: Ethological theory emphasizes that infants' behavior systems have been shaped by the ordinarily expectable environment and depend on that environment for their functioning, yet infants of many species form bonds to objects not typical in any species' environment, or even to sources of maltreatment. Learning theory is faulted for making predictions contradicted by the maltreatment data and for a lack of formal mechanisms to account for the secure base and separation effects. The contiguity analysis is criticized for its inability to account for the emergence of certain response patterns during separation, and the opponent-process model is called into question because of its failure to fit important affective dynamics of social separation (a central focus of this theory). Recommendations for future theories of attachment are offered.

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Surveys of recent baccalaureate degree recipients confirmed earlier findings that, compared with other alumni, psychology baccalaureates ranked low on ratings of the relatedness of their current job to the major. Psychology baccalaureates also rated low on whether their education had prepared them for that job and enhanced their future prospects. Correlations across all majors suggested that employment relatedness predicted judgments of preparedness, and preparedness predicted future prospects. Comparable correlations for psychology majors suggested that they entered the job market with expectations similar to graduates of more occupationally oriented programs. We offer specific recommendations to prepare students for more satisfying outcomes in the postbaccalaureate job market.

Discrimination between individual strangers and companions was examined in day-old domestic chicks. In one experiment, pecking rates at companions and strangers were observed in pairwise bouts after 16 hr of cohabitation. The discriminability of strangers and companions was varied by means of pre-hatch colouring. Reliable discriminations between individual strangers and companions emerged as early as the first minute of the encounter. Discriminative cues provided by artificial colouring were found not to be necessary in establishing social discrimination. In a second experiment, undyed chicks were housed in pairs for 1, 4 or 16 hr. Half of the pairs lived in cages that separated companions by a wire screen, and half were housed in undivided cages. Observations of pecking in four-way bouts confirmed previous findings and demonstrated that the opportunity to peck during exposure may be a necessary condition in producing social discrimination. Antecedent conditions that lead to the development of affiliative bonds simultaneously appear to establish social discrimination.

Based on a departmental survey, 27 men and 96 women psychology majors at an American university were categorised in terms of their highest degree sought — BA/BSc, Master's, or PhD — and interest in types of baccalaureate-level jobs: ‘human services’ versus ‘general’ (including business). However, regardless of career plans, students consistently preferred human interest courses (e.g. abnormal, personality) over methodological courses (e.g. statistics, tests and measurement). In operational terms, concerning enthusiasm to take local methods offerings, 75% of a subsample chose the attitudinal response options of ‘neutral’ or ‘not eager to take’. Students' relative disinterest in methodology was compared with current professional assumptions about the psychology curriculum as a special source of skills.