Explanations Of Attachment Flashcards
What is the learning theory of attachment?
The idea that attachments are formed when an infant receives food. They learn to ‘love’ the person who feeds them. The ‘Cupboard Love’ idea.
What is the explanation for how attachments form, according to the Learning Theory?
Conditioning
How does classical conditioning explain attachment formation in humans?
UCS - Food
UCR - Pleasure
CS - Mother
CS - Pleasure
How does operant conditioning explain attachment formation in humans?
Babies feel discomfort when they’re hungry, so have a desire for food. If they cry, their mother will feed them, removing that discomfort - negative reinforcement. Babies associate their mothers with food and the alleviation of discomfort.
Why doesn’t Schaffer and Emerson’s research fully support the Learning Theory of attachment?
Babies didn’t necessarily attach to whoever fed them the most, but rather to who spent time sensitively responding to their needs
Why do Lorenz and Harlow’s studies weaken the Learning Theory of attachment?
Lorenz - His goslings imprinted on him before he fed him
Harlow - Monkeys preferred the cloth mother who didn’t have food
Suggesting that food is not the most important factor in attachment
What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment state?
That attachments are innate and evolutionary beneficial
What is monotropy?
The idea that infants form one main attachment (normally with their mother)
What are social releasers?
Innate infant behaviours and characteristics which encourage an innate nurturing response from an adult (e.g. cute facial features or crying)
What is the critical period, according to Bowlby?
The first 2-3 years of life is the critical period for a child to develop an attachment
What is the Internal Working Model?
The idea that a child’s attachment with their primary caregiver provides them with a ‘blueprint’/‘model’ of what relationships are like and how they work. If they have good early attachments, they are likely to have good attachments in the future.
What is a limitation of the idea of monotropy?
Social consequences - pressure placed on primary caregiver (usually mother) to form sensitive attachments. Can criticise from a feminist POV.
Why does Bailey et al (2007) support the Internal Working Model idea?
Found that mothers who reported poor attachments to their mothers (by questionnaire), also had poor attachments to their children (by observation)
