EXPLANATIONS OF ATTACHMENT Flashcards
What are the two main explanations?
- learning theory
- bowlbys monotropic theory
What are the main assumptions of learning theory?
- all behaviours learnt through conditioning
- either classical or operant conditioning
- also known as cupboard love theory
What is the role of classical conditioning?
- learning by association
- association of the mother with food and pleasure
Describe the process of classical conditioning
- food (unconditioned stimuli) —-> pleasure (unconditioned response)
- food (unconditioned stimuli) + caregiver (neutral stimulus) —-> pleasure (unconditioned response)
- caregiver (conditioned response) —-> pleasure (conditioned response)
What is the result of classical conditioning?
- caregiver creates a conditioned response from the child
- formation of an attachment
Describe the process of operant conditioning?
- infant is motivated to reduce unpleasant feelings of hunger
- cries to receive comfort
- when caregiver provides food it produces pleasure which is rewarding
- attachment occurs as infant seeks caregiver who provides food
What is a negative evaluation of learning theory?
- undermined by Harlow research
- found baby’s rehus Mikey spent more time on towelling mother not providing food, instead of wire mother with food
- shows baby’s form attachment through contact comfort aswell as food
- suggest alternative process’s have been ignored
- supported by schaffer and emerson demonstrated infants form attachments with mother despite being fed by someone else
What is methodological negative evaluation for learning theory?
- research support like pavlov and skinner is criticised for over-reliance in animals
- psychologists argue provides over simplified explanation of attachment formation
- attachment is complex emotional bond between caregiver-infant
- learning theory may lack validity
- difficult to generalise animal findings to humans/wouldn’t react the same
What is a comparison evaluation point for learning theory?
- proposed by bowlby
- believed infants have innate readiness during critical period to form attachment
- protects them from harm while they’re young and vulnerable
- explains how an attachment is formed and also how it is for survival
- bowlbys theory provides a more comprehensive explanation instead of reducing complex behaviour to stimulus-response
What is issues and debates evaluation for learning theory?
- learning theory suggests attachments are a result of learning
- supports nature/nurture view of behaviour
- theory is reductionist as it reduces complex behaviour to simple stimulus-response association
- many psychologists would argue human attachments are far more complex
- learning explanations are an overly simplified explanation
What were bowlbys main assumptions?
- infants born with innate tendency to form attachments
- increases chance of survival
- infants possess inborn social releasers
- infants must form attachment in critical period
What are social releasers and give an example?
- actions that infants do to unluck biological tendency in adults to care for them
- ‘baby face’ features including smiling and cooing
What were bowlbys views on the critical period?
- babies must form attachment within critical period
- between 3 and 6 months of age
- bowlby later acknowledged attachments could be formed till up to 3 years
- successful attachment increasingly difficult after initial period
What were the implications of not forming attachment in the critical period?
- child would be damaged for life
- socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically
What is monotropy?
- secure and special attachment that infant forms
- creates and internal working model from that attachment
