Learning Theory

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

• Learning to associate 2 stimuli together
• food = ucs
• being fed gives pleasure = ucr
• caregiver = ns
• when caregiver provides food overtime they become associated with food
• ns = cs
• pleasure = cr

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

• Learning from consequences of behaviour
• Behaviour produces pleasant response - behaviour is reinforced
• Behaviour produces unpleasant response - less likely to be reinforced
• OC can explain why babies cry for comfort - leads to a response from caregiver e.g feeding - if caregiver provides correct response, crying is reinforced
• Reinforcement is a two-way process - caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops

Question 3

Att as a secondary drive

Answer 3

• Hunger = primary drive - innate biological motivator
• Research suggested as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them
• Att is therefore a secondary drive learned by association between caregiver and primary drive

Question 4

LT - Evaluation - Strength

Answer 4

• Elements of conditioning could be involved in some aspects of att
• unlikely that association with food plays a role in att but conditioning might
• e.g a baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a certain adult - may influence the baby’s choice of main att figure
• LT may still be useful in understanding development of att

Question 5

LT - Evaluation - Limitation

Answer 5

• Counter evidence from animal studies
• e.g Lorenz’s birds imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless whether it is associated with food
• With Harlow’s research - no mention of importance of food - monkeys displayed att behaviour towards cloth covered mother in preference to wire mother that provided milk