learning theory Flashcards
learning 3 ao1
classical conditioning - caregiver (NS) associated with food (UCS) - caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus to provide pleasure
operant conditioning - crying behaviour reinforced positively for baby and negatively for caregiver
attachment as a secondary drive - attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger
learning - food support
Food has been shown to be a strong reinforcer; for example Skinner demonstrated that rats could be conditioned to press a lever for food; furthermore a child is fed nearly 2000 times in the first year, so it seems likely that an association would form between the caregiver and food.
learning - food counterpoint
Babies are usually more active in attachment than conditioning explanations suggest, this is seen as both classical and operant conditioning explanations reducing the baby to just a passive role that is only responding to associations with comfort or reward. But instead, research suggests that babies actually have a very active role in the interactions that produce attachment. This means that conditioning may not be an adequate explanation of any aspect of attachment.
learning - animal studies
animal studies disagree with the idea that the association of food is important in the formation of attachments. Lorenz’s geese imprinted on the first moving object that they saw, meaning that it didn’t have to be associated with food to become the primary figure of attachment.Harlow showed that feeding is not key to attachment as monkeys displayed attachment behaviour towards the soft surrogate mother in preference to a wire one which provided milk. This shows how the association of food is not as important to the formation of attachments as previously thought using the learning theory explanation.
learning - human studies
provides a lack of support. This can be seen in studies such as Schaffer and Emerson, who found that babies tend to form main attachment to their mothers regardless of whether she was the one feeding them. Isabella et al found that high levels of interactional synchrony predicted the quality of attachment. This shows that the primary attachment figure is not always the person who does the feeding, quality of attachment related to interactional synchrony not feeding
learning - alternate explanation
Involves modelling attachment behaviours, includes role of active baby. Parents teach children to love them by demonstrating attachment behaviours such as hugging and also reinforcing love behaviour by showing approval when babies display their own attachment behaviours. Two-way interaction between baby and adults which is seen in the social learning perspective, which fits better with research into the importance of reciprocity.
