Attachment - Explanations: Learning Theory Flashcards
What do Dollard and Miller believe about attachment?
It is a learned behaviour that is acquired through both classical and operant conditioning
What is all behaviour (including attachment) according to Dollard and Miller?
All behaviour is learnt rather than an innate biological behaviour
What do learning theories of attachment focus on?
The associations and rewards provided by caregivers
Why do we learn to attach (according to learning theories)?
Because of the need for food
Examples of classical conditioning for mother and child
Milk causes baby to feel pleasure
Mother and milk caused baby to feel pleasure
Mother alone causes baby to feel pleasure as she is associated with milk
What is the milk during classical conditioning?
The unconditioned stimulus
What is the baby feeling pleasure when it is the result of the mother and/or the milk?
The unconditioned response
What is the mother when paired with the milk?
The neutral stimulus
What does the mother become when she alone brings the baby pleasure?
The conditioned stimulus
What does the baby feeling pleasure become when only the mother brings them pleasure?
The conditioned response
What is operant conditioning?
The type of learning that takes place because of actions and rewards - learning through consequences
Process of operant conditioning for baby and mother
Baby performs action (E.g. crying) and receives a reward from mother (E.g. milk which relieves hunger)
Why does the baby repeat the action in operant conditioning?
Because the rewards reinforce the action
Evaluation point: generalisation
Theory is based on animal studies so there’s a belief that it can’t be generalised to humans
Evaluation point: explanatory power
Has some explanatory power - may not learn through food, but they do learn through association and reinforcement
