Among Mary Main’s many vital contributions to the field of attachment is the idea that human infants develop adaptive conditional strategies in the service of maintaining proximity to a secure base in light of a particular caregiving history. In this tribute paper, we describe Main’s original theorizing, which delineated three types of conditional strategies: a primary secure base strategy and two secondary strategies of minimizing or maximizing the naturally occurring output of the attachment behavioral system, using a variety of cognitive, affective, and behavioral means. We review the large body of evidence for minimizing and maximizing strategies in infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Across a range of studies – including age groups and methodologies extending well beyond Main’s original work with infants – there is remarkable convergence of findings that support Main’s ideas. We conclude with several promising directions in implementing Main’s groundbreaking ideas to enrich future research and clinical applications.

Keywords: attachment, close relationships, caregiving, adaptive strategies, emotion regulation