Explanations of Attachment

Question 1

what are the two theories of attachment ?

Answer 1

1. learning theory (nurture)
2. Bowlby’s monotropic theory (nature)

Question 2

what does the learning theory say about attachment ?

Answer 2

• attaachments are learnt due to seeking food
• known as ‘cuboard love’ theories
• proximity seeking behavoiurs and distress at speration are learnt behaviours to enable feeding

Question 3

classical conditioning for feeding infants

Answer 3

• NS mother creates no response
• UCS food creates UCR pleasure
• UCS + NS = pleasure
• CS mother creates CR pleasure

Question 4

what does operant conditioning say about attachment ?

Answer 4

• attatchments are based on the hunger drive
• the hunger drive needs satasfying so an infant attaches to a primary caregiver in order to satisy hunger

Question 5

why is food a primary reinforcer ?

Answer 5

• satsifies a basic need or ‘drive’ intrinsically
• EG: hunger is a survival drive that is satisfied only by food

Question 6

why is a primary attachment figure a secondary reinforcer ?

Answer 6

• it becomes associated with the primary reinforcer
• mother provides food so she becomes associated with food

Question 7

A weakness of learning theories

reductionist

Answer 7

I: learning theory explanation may be considered reductionist
E: it oversimplifies a complex concept like attachment and reduces it to a set of behaviours that infants learn to produce automatically through association and reinforcement. by doing this it ignores the cognitive and emotional components of the relationship
C: means learning theories provide an incomplete explanation

Question 8

A weakness of learning theories

contradicting

Answer 8

I: harlows monkeys contradicts learning theory of attachment
E: monkeys spent most of their time on the cloth monkey that provides comfort not on the wire monkey that provides food
C: feeding is NOT as important as comfort in attachment formation, reducingthe validity of the explanation

Question 9

A strength of learning theories

operant

Answer 9

I: operant conditioning can still be used today to explain attachment
E: even though the concept that food is the UCS/reinforcement is discreditied. credible that other factors provided by the caregiver are reinforcing/associated with pleasure eg: playing, contact comfort
C: certain elements of learning theory may have some validity in explaining attachment

Question 10

what does Bowlby believe is the reason why infants form attachments ?

Answer 10

• evoluntionary basis - innate drive to fomr attachments, this attachment is adaptive (increases infants survival chance)
• develop an internal working model
• continuity hypothesis - as there is a link between attachment and later relationships

Question 11

what is an internal working model ?

Answer 11

• a template or blueprint for what relationships are like
• powerfull effect on the nature of the childs furture relationships - generating expectations, rules, and norms

Question 12

When does Bowlby believe infants form an attachment ?

Answer 12

• critical period of when an infant must form an attachment
• from 6 months to 2 1/2 years
• if not infants will have difficulty forming attachments later on in life along with other negative consequences ( intellectual and emotional development problems)

Question 13

Who does Bowlby believe an infant forms an attachment to ?

Answer 13

• montropy - one special bond (primary caregiver)
• primary attachment is the ine which the INW is based on
• secondary attachments are less important but meet other needs. eg: social development

Question 14

How does Bowlby believe infants form an attachment ?

Answer 14

• innately pre programmed to produce social releases - behaviours desinged to elict a response from the caregiver to ensure the surival of the infant being looked after
• EG: smilling, crying, gripping
• met with instinctive parental responses - caregivers automatically respond to the infant- devloping attachment through reciprocal process

Question 15

A strength of Bowlbys theory

supporting

Answer 15

I: supporting evidence for some aspects of bowlbys montropic theory (Eg: continuity hypothesis)
E: Sroufe et al found the quality of infants attachments affect subsequent relationships. the study followed infants into adolescence and found those who were classified as securely attached in infancy were more skilled, popular and empathetic in later childhood
C: increases the validity of Bowlbys theory as it shows through the continuity hypothesis that early attachments influence later relationships

Question 16

A weakness of Bowlby’s theory

contradictory continuity

Answer 16

I: contradictory evidence against the continuity hypothesis in Bowlby’s monotrpic theory
E: Zimmerman et al assessed attachment style of children aged 12-18 months and then again at 16 yrs . they found that early attachment style was not a good predictor of later relationships. also found that life events eg: parental divorce had a much greater impact
C: continuity hypothesis isn’s as impotant as bowlby suggests and other factors need to be taken into account

Question 17

A weakness of Bowlby’s theory

contradictory monotropy

Answer 17

I: further contradictory evidence against bolwby’s theory around monotropy
E: Schaffer and emerson found that 31% of infants at 18mnths had 5 or more attachments, including grandparents or siblings and only 13% of the sample were attached to just 1 person
C: directly contradicts idea of monotropy as the research shows the imprtance and role of these attachments