In the course of studies of behavioural parent training with the families of young children who were demonstrating serious conduct disorders, a substantial proportion of the parents reported, without the information being solicited in any way, that their children had become far more loving and demonstrative than formerly. They were surprised and delighted by this development. The concepts of “attachment” and “attachment behaviours” are explored and the usefulness of learning theory in understanding the extinction and recovery of attachment/attachment behaviours is discussed. This formulation may provide a bridge between cognitive learning theory on the one hand and attachment theory on the other.