Bowlby reviews the nature and dynamics of the first object relationship. Of the theories that have been brought forward he favors two: an innate need to be in touch with and cling to the mother, and a need to relate to the breast, to suck, and to possess it orally. There is evidence that the child has a need to be smiled at, picked up, and talked to. Bowlby presents evidence that sucking, clinging, following, crying, and smiling are instinctual motor responses equivalent to the instinctual responses described by ethologists. Observations of human beings and experiments on the higher primates suggest that clinging is independent of oral behavior. The infant's cry is due not only to hunger but also to other releasing stimuli. These instinctual patterns are evoked or suppressed under certain conditions. Clinging is already present at birth and is expressed with great tenacity especially in a setting of separation or at bedtime. It is manifest also in relation to transitional objects.