A secure base script perspective on attachment: progress, promise, and prospects

Bowlby's attachment theory has long been a dominant framework for understanding the development of intimate relationships, particularly the role of early caregiving in shaping later socio-emotional functioning. While Bowlby's proposed cognitive mechanism allowing for early experience to guide later adaptation, the Internal Working Model, has been central to the theory, the specific psychological constructs and processes at play remain underexplored. Waters and Waters (2006) advanced our understanding of the Internal Working Model by introducing the “secure base script,” a cognitive representation that summarizes secure base experiences and guides behavior in attachment-related contexts. Twenty years on, this review summarizes current progress in terms of: a) assessment; b) latent structure; c) antecedents; d) sequalae; and e) stability/change. Further, it evaluates the secure base script's potential to advance attachment theory and our understanding of attachment processes by integrating both basic and clinically oriented perspectives from cognitive psychology with attachment theory.