Explanations Of Attachment Flashcards
Learning theory
All behaviour is learnt rather than innate. Everyone is born “tabula rasa” and people are shaped by their experiences
Classical conditioning
Association
Operant conditioning
Consequence
Before conditioning:
Food serves as an UCS (unconditioned stimulus), being fed gives us a feeling of pleasure UCR (unconditioned response). Caregiver is the NS (neutral stimulus) because the child has not learnt to react to them in any way.
Unconditioned response
Food
Unconditioned response
Pleasure
Neutral stimulus
Caregiver
During conditioning
When the same caregiver (NS) provides food (UCS) over several feedings (they occur together), the caregiver becomes associated with the food itself
Association between:
Caregiver and food
NS and UCS
After learning
The caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus as she starts eliciting the same response as the UCS even without the presence of food and becomes the Conditioned Response - the baby now forming an attachment to the caregiver
Conditioned stimulus
Caregiver
Conditioned response
Pleasure at sight of the caregiver
Negative reinforcement
Removal of an unpleasant experience in response to a specific behaviour
Operant conditioning in attachment:
In OC, desirable behaviour is repeated due to consequences
In case of attachment, hunger acts as a ‘drive’
This leads to babies engaging in behaviour (crying) to reduce the drive.
This may lead to child being fed- which reduces the hunger (DRIVE REDUCTION)
The food is the reward and acts as a primary reinforcer
The child recognises the person who provides the food as the secondary reinforcer known as the agent of drive reduction
Drive
A feeling of discomfort that motivates behaviour
Primary reinforcer
The actual thing that reduces the drive
Secondary reinforcement
The person who provides the food
The agent of drive reduction
Secondary reinforcement
AKA: the person who provides the food
Attachment
Strong, enduring, emotional relationship between 2 people (especially an infant and caregiver)
It’s a two-way process characterised by desire for closeness and a feeling of security when in the presence of the attachment figure
A strength of the learning theory of attachment is that it has practical applications.
Since LT explains that feeding behaviour forms attachment (through associating caregiver with pleasure provided by food). This explanation utilised to allow both parents to form an attachment with the infant. Father- feed child with formula or express milk
This is a strength as both parents can look after the infant by themselves - flexibility in way that families arrange childcare and parental leave from work
LT has utility + can improve lives
A limitation of the LT is that it has refuting evidence from animal research conducted by Harlow.
Harlow has shown how good does not lead to attachment as monkeys sought contact comfort and formed lasting attachments with the towel mother instead of food providing wire mother.
Lorenz found geese imprinted and thus attached to the first moving object they saw regardless of whether that object provided them with food.
Weakness bc LT is wrong in arguing food is the key factor in forming attachment, other factors like contact comfort and imprinting are key.
Decreasing validity of LT
A limitation of LT is that it has refuting evidence from human research conducted.
Schaffer and Emerson- attachments tented to be strongest with the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to the infants social releases and not the person who fed them most. Some children had multiple attachments even though mother may have done more of the feeding.
Weakness bc LT is wrong in arguing food is key factor in forming attachment rather than parental sensitivity to social releases.
Decreases validity of LT
Weakness of LT is that there is an alternate well- rounded theory of explanation.
LT does explain how attachment forms (associating pleasure with the caregiver or noticing that the caregiver provides drive reduction) yet fails to explain the purpose of attachment.
Bowlby’s theory address both how and why attachment forms. How - attachment forms based on parental sensitivity to social releases
Why - attachment is beneficial for infants protection and survival and beneficial for adults to ensure their genes are passed onto future generations
Weakness bc LT only provides partial explanation whereas Bowlby’s provides a more complete theory
Theory decreases in validity
