Creating a Secure Base: The Foundation of Safety and Exploration

A secure base provides a child (and adults) with a foundation of safety to retreat to when discovering new environments becomes frightening. Consequently, A secure base is essential for exploration. A child’s continual development and courageous endeavors into the unknown are aided by the implicit knowledge that a caregiver will come to their rescue. John Bowlby considered a secure base an essential ingredient for confident, securely attached children.

As a securely attached child becomes comfortable with their environment, they leave the safety of their mother’s arms and begins to explore. When the safety of the environment is disrupted by a surprising element, the child quickly returns to their mother for reassurance. Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999), a developmental psychologist, “​observed this behavior in so many of the infants that it led her to hypothesize that babies use their mothers as a secure base to depart from and return to in their explorations of the world” (Mooney, 2009).

John Bowlby (1907-1990), a British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst that specialized in child development, wrote that, “When conditions were favourable an infant moves away from mother on exploratory excursions and returns to her again from time to time.” Bowlby continued, “This concept of secure base from which a child, an adolescent, or an adult goes out to explore and to which he returns from time to time, is one I have come to regard as crucial for an understanding of how an emotionally stable person develops and functions all through his life” (Bowlby, 1988).

​Exploration and Attachment

According to attachment theory, we have an internal system that activates attachment behavior. When frightened, we seek comfort. We also have drives for exploration. However, exploration only occurs during moments of safety. With a secure base, we confidently explore, knowing we have a place of safety at our disposal whenever needed. While watching my two year old grandson the other day, he climbed the stairs, occasionally looking back to make sure papa was behind him. Knowing I was behind him gave him courage to explore. As he reached the top landing, he charged towards the end of the hall where we store his toys.

However, this journey was disrupted. A door was open to an adjacent room, fans were running and the bed skirt was dancing in the wind. The movement in a room that usually has the door shut frightened my grandson. He immediately stopped, turned and lifted his arms to be held. My grandson’s exploration ended when a strange unexpected sight of movement and light intruded. He quickly recovered in the safety of papa’s arms. After a moment of reassurance, he requested to get back down and continue courageously to the toy room and retrieved his toy cars.

A Foundation of Safety

A sense of safety is necessary for exploration. Not necessarily insurance against failure but confidence that failure will not completely destroy.

An attachment figure provides a secure base. When an attachment figure, typically the mother or father for a young child, their “very presence, or ready accessibility…create the conditions which enables him to explore his world in a confident way” (Bowlby, 1988). Should the child lose sight of his mother, then, exploration his forgotten, and attachment behaviors activated. Bowlby postulates that the behavior that takes the child away from his mother into the wild world is termed exploratory behavior and “is incompatible with attachment behavior and has a lower priority. It is only when attachment behavior is relatively inactive that exploration occurs” (Bowlby, 1988).

Jonathan Haidt, an American social psychologist known for his research in the fields of moral psychology and moral emotions. wrote, “If you want your children to grow up to be healthy and independent, you should hold them, hug them, cuddle them, and love them. Give them a secure base and they will explore and then conquer the world on their own” (Haidt, 2003).

A secure base allows the security of attachment to remain intact while temporarily exploring the world. When the safety of a secure base is not established, unhealthy attachment behaviors may intrude, becoming a basis for a variety of neuroses that disturb and disrupt development and relationships.

Adults and A Secure Base for Exploration

The need for security doesn’t end with childhood. We are driven by security and belonging needs throughout our lives. A secure base provides both security and belonging. Abraham Maslow suggests that both security and belonging needs must be fulfilled before we can consistently and actively explore, achieving self-actualization.

Bowlby explains that during adolescents new attachment figures are sought. He explains that, “Throughout adult life the availability of a  responsive attachment figure remains the source of a person’s feeling secure. All of us, from the cradle to the grave, are happiest when life is organized as a series of excursions, long and short, from the secure base provided by our attachment figure(s)” (Bowlby, 1988). Throughout our lives, a place of security becomes our base camp.

​A Secure Base and Trust

The strength of a secure base depends on trust in the attachment figure. A young child builds trust through repeated experiences of attachment behaviors that are met with reassurances of safety.  This trust provides the security necessary for exploration of environments. The attentive parent emotionally attuned with the child, provides comfort, validating the child’s emotion, and reassuring them with safety. The secure base creates an emotional intimacy where emotions are shared and honored.

Daniel Siegel wrote, “the emotional transactions of secure attachment involve a parent’s emotionally sensitive responses to a child’s signals, which can serve to amplify the child’s positive emotional states and to modulate negative states.” So then, security is a product of repeated safe interactions. Siegel continues, “the aid caregivers can give in reducing uncomfortable emotions, such as fear, anxiety, or sadness, enables children to be soothed and gives them a haven of safety when they are upset.”

We feel safe because our world is safe. From these repeated experiences, the soothing becomes “encoded in implicit memory as expectations and then as mental models or schemata of attachment, which serve to help a child feel an internal sense of what John Bowlby called a ‘secure base’ in the world” (Siegel, 2020). We fear, and then a significant person in our lives soothes our fears. The repeated process shows life is safe. This process creates a secure base.

Natural Dispositions and Secure Attachment

Not all childhood homes provide a secure base for developing children. Physical and emotional separations may impair bonding and attachment, leaving a child anxious or avoidant—characteristics that may follow them throughout their lives. Childhood homes do not need perfection but they shouldn’t be toxic. We find safety not from perfection but healthy repairs to mend when interactions fail to support. The still face experiments in the 1970’s supports this theory.

A child’s natural disposition can also play into the development of a secure base. We are not blank slates. We come into this world with pre-programming. Some children are more cuddly than others. Some children invite closeness while others require more patience and emotional maturity to provide them with the necessary attention their delicate development needs. Adults can provide security to children, regardless of their personality traits.

Associated Concepts

• Internal Working Models: These are the mental representations that individuals form of their attachment relationships. They guide expectations and behavior in relationships, influencing how a person perceives themselves and others.
• Dyadic Regulation: This refers to a process in which the emotional states of two individuals in a relationship become synchronized and regulated. It involves the ability of both individuals to mutually influence each other’s emotions and provide support during times of emotional distress.
• Harlow’s Rhesus Monkey Experiments: Using rhesus monkeys, Harlow investigated the effects of maternal deprivation by separating infant monkeys from their mothers. He observed the monkeys behavior to varying degrees of social isolation.
• Lorenz’s Imprinting Theory: This concept introduced by ethologist Konrad Lorenz, refers to the rapid and relatively permanent learning process that occurs during a brief critical period in early life. This phenomenon involves the attachment of a young animal to a specific individual or object, usually the parent. Imprinting is common among birds and some mammals.
• Emotional Safety: This concept refers to the feeling of being safe, supported, and accepted within a relationship or environment that serves as a stable foundation for exploration and growth.
• Attachment Styles: These refer to the patterns of behavior in close relationships that develop in early childhood and continue into adulthood. They are influenced by the quality of the bond between an infant and their primary caregiver.
• A Strange Situation: This refers to a research method commonly used in attachment theory to assess the quality of attachment between a child and their caregiver. During a strange situation, the child is exposed to a series of brief separations and reunions with their caregiver in an unfamiliar environment while interacting with a stranger.
• Secure Attachment: A secure attachment is characterized by feelings of trust, safety, and comfort that enable individuals to explore the world with confidence and return to their attachment figure as a source of support when needed.

A Few Words from Psychology Fanatic

In both childhood and adulthood, the significance of key relationships cannot be overstated. These connections serve as a vital source of trust, built through consistent responsiveness to our emotional needs. When we cultivate this sense of security with others, it empowers us to venture into the world with confidence. The knowledge that someone is there for us—ready to lend a hand or offer comfort when needed—encourages fearless exploration of our potential and surroundings. In moments of fear or uncertainty, the simple act of reaching out becomes a testament to our innate human desire for connection and support.

As we navigate life’s challenges, these loving relationships become anchors in turbulent waters, reminding us that we are not alone in our struggles. Just as children instinctively turn to their caregivers for reassurance during frightening experiences, adults too seek solace in trusted companions who validate their feelings and provide unwavering support. This cycle of giving and receiving love creates an emotional resilience that fosters growth and healing within ourselves and those around us. Ultimately, it is through these meaningful bonds that we learn not only how to explore the world bravely but also how to nurture souls—both our own and others’—through acts of kindness, understanding, and unconditional love.

Last Update: June 5, 2025

References:

Bowlby, John (1988). A Secure Base. Basic Books; Reprint edition. ISBN-10: 0465075975 APA Record: 1988-98501-000
(Return to Main Text)

Haidt, Jonathan (2003). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books; 1st edition. ISBN-10: 0465028020; APA Record: 2006-00770-000
(Return to Main Text)

Mooney, Carol Garhart (2009). Theories of Attachment: An Introduction to Bowlby, Ainsworth, Gerber, Brazelton, Kennell, and Klaus. Redleaf Press; Illustrated edition. ISBN: 9781933653389
(Return to Main Text)

Siegel, Daniel J. (2020). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. The Guilford Press; 3rd edition. ISBN-10: 1462542751; APA Record: 2012-12726-000
(Return to Main Text)