ATTACHMENT & SECURE BASE
This attachment function allows a child to explore the environment while knowing they can return for safety.
What is a secure base?
This term describes a caregiver and child emotionally “tuning in” to each other’s internal states.
What is attunement?
When a child’s attachment figure is also the source of fear, this survival system becomes chronically activated.
What is the amygdala / fear response system?
Piaget described this as fitting new information into existing knowledge structures.
What is assimilation?
Jordan argues that RCT must expand beyond individual therapy into this broader relational context.
What are systems or institutions?
This internal template shapes how a child expects others to respond in relationships.
What is a working model?
This process refers to coordinated, reciprocal interaction patterns between caregiver and infant.
What is synchrony?
This brain region is responsible for executive function but becomes less active during chronic stress.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This complementary process involves changing cognitive structures to fit new information.
What is accommodation?
This RCT concept involves both people being impacted and changed within a relationship.
What is mutual empathy?
This attachment pattern involves contradictory behaviors, often seen when the caregiver is also the source of fear.
What is disorganized attachment?
van der Kolk describes this phrase to explain emotional alignment between people.
What is “getting on the same wavelength”?
This process occurs when neutral stimuli become associated with danger through repeated exposure.
What is fear conditioning?
Vygotsky described this supportive process where a more skilled other guides learning.
What is scaffolding?
In future applications, Jordan emphasizes addressing this factor explicitly within therapy and institutions.
What is power?
According to developmental research, insecure attachment is most strongly associated with this type of caregiving.
What is insensitive caregiving?
These brain cells are thought to help humans resonate with and mirror others’ emotional states.
What are mirror neurons?
When trauma narrows attention and impairs cognitive flexibility, this executive skill is particularly affected.
What is working memory?
This concept refers to the range of tasks a child can complete with assistance but not yet independently.
What is the zone of proximal development?
Jordan highlights the importance of applying RCT principles to these modalities beyond the dyad.
What are couples, family, and group therapy?
When attachment security supports regulation, this cognitive system is freed for exploration and learning.
What is executive function / cognitive development?
When attunement repeatedly fails, this core regulatory system becomes disrupted in the child’s brain.
What is emotion regulation?
van der Kolk explains that trauma shifts the brain from reflective processing to this survival-oriented mode.
What is fight/flight/freeze survival mode?
According to Broderick & Blewitt, this set of skills includes working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility.
What is executive function?
Jordan argues that growth-fostering relationships increase zest, clarity, worth, desire for connection, and this final outcome.
What is increased capacity for action?