Explanations of attachment

Question 1

What is the learning theory explanation?

Answer 1

Attachment develops through conditioning processes which associate the caregiver with food

Question 2

What is the learning theory explanation also known as?

Answer 2

The cupboard love theory

Question 3

Explain the classical conditioning process of attachment

Answer 3

The stimulus of food produces a natural response of pleasure which is paired with a caregiver and results in the infant associating pleasure with the caregiver

Question 4

What law is operant conditioning based on?

Answer 4

The Law of Effect: Any action that has a pleasurable outcome will be repeated again in similar circumstances

Question 5

Explain the operant conditioning process of attachment

Answer 5

Caregivers become associated with the negative reinforcement of hunger being removed, resulting in the caregiver becoming a source of reinforcement and reward themselves

Question 6

What did Dollard and Miller find?

Answer 6

Babies are fed over 2,000 times by their main carer in their first year, giving ample time for this association to be made

Question 7

Who criticises the learning theory explanation?

Answer 7

Shaffer and Emerson, who found that 39% of infant attachments were not to their primary caregiver

Question 8

How does Bowlby argue against the learning theory of attachment?

Answer 8

Babies only need food occasionally, but constantly need emotional security and closeness that a caregiver provides

Question 9

What are the four key parts of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 9

Monotropy, social releasers/evolution, critical period and internal working model

Question 10

When does Bowlby believe attachments evolved and why?

Answer 10

The Pleistocene era; Humans faced constant danger and attachments ensured offspring stayed close to caregivers who would protect them, so attachment is a control system to maintain proximity to the mother

Question 11

What are social releasers?

Answer 11

Innate, species-specific infant social behaviours that stimulate adult interaction and caregiving; crying, looking smiling and vocalising, and following and clinging

Question 12

What does Bowlby believe the evolution of attachment behaviours involved?

Answer 12

A complementary system between infants and their carers whereby carers would respond to their infants in a meaningful way

Question 13

What is monotropy?

Answer 13

Infants form one primary attachment initially, to the biological mother

Question 14

What is Bowlby’s critical period?

Answer 14

A specific time period within which an attachment must form (for most this is 12 months and for all two-and-a-half to three years)

Question 15

What is Bowlby’s internal working model?

Answer 15

A cognitive framework used to understand the world, self and others, that acts as a template for future relationships based on an infant’s primary attachment

Question 16

For Bowlby, what was attachment?

Answer 16

A hierarchy with the prime attachment at the top and secondary attachments below

Question 17

What animal study does Bowlby use to support his view?

Answer 17

Lorenz; geese will follow certain markings or sounds made by their mother to keep them close, and seem distressed when not close to them, suggesting an evolutionary value as this keeps them safe

Question 18

Who discovered the temperament hypothesis and what is it?

Answer 18

Kagan; The nature of infants’ attachments is due to innate personality factors

Question 19

What are the cultural issues with explanations for attachments, specifically multiple attachments? Give a supporting study

Answer 19

Collectivist societies are much more likely to have multiple attachments early on because child-rearing practices are different.

Tronick - Efe tribe breastfed children that weren’t their biological children