Learning Theory Of Attachment Flashcards
What is the learning theory?
Learning by association
How does classical conditioning occur?
1-an unconditioned stimulus leads to an unconditioned response
– in addition to this pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus leads to an unconditional response.
– with multiple repetitions of this pairing (NS AND US) and association is made, and the neutral stimulus (now the conditioned stimulus) now provokes a conditioned response even in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.
Eg, UCS= food NS= bell
What is operant conditioning?
Learning by reinforcement.
(Encouraging behaviour to continue)
Reinforcement is a two-way process as attachment is enforced for both the caregiver and infant
What is positive reinforcement?
A baby cries and gets food as a reward.
– so the baby keeps repeating this behaviour
What is an example of negative enforcement?
When baby cries, the caregiver takes care of it to get rid of the unpleasant feeling.
– When the baby stops crying, it’s a reward for the mother and encourages them to keep taking care of the baby .
What is a strength of learning theory?
Midwives can advise new parents on the importance of feeding.
- social workers now also investigate MORE child/infant neglect cases as they know the impact it could have on them later on in life, when forming attachment/ relationships with new people.
What is a weakness of learning theory?
P- it has opposing research
E- tronick et al. Studied an african tribe, the Efe.
- in this tribe it is tradition for infants to be looked after and even BREASTFED by different women in the tribe.
E- despite being fed by different women, at 6 months the infants STILL showed a primary attachment to their biological mother.
L- this is a problem as the learning theory would expect infants to be attached to the individuals who feeds them, and therefore this study would suggest that the learning theory is an INACCURATE EXPLANATION of human attachment
- therefore REDUCING INTERNAL VALIDITY
What is another weakness of the learning theory?
P- contradictory evidence
E- Lorenz geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw whether this object was associated with food Or not.
E- additionally Harlow found that baby rhesus monkeys spent most of their tume with the cloth mother that provided COMFORT rather than the wire monkey that provided food.
L- these findings clearly suggest that attachment is not just about regular feeding, lowering the INTERNAL validity of the theory.
What is some ethical issues in infant research?
-babies would not be able to give consent to take part in research based on their age
- adults should only give consent for them if they are confident the babies would be happy to have taken part ONCE OLD enough to understand
-the second issue is harm and distress.
Because distress would be prolonged and harm would most likely be irreversible.
- one way psychologists deal with ethical issues is to present proposed research to an ethics committee.
- they would assess your proposal against standards like those provided by the BRITISH Psychological SOCIETY.
- they can provide feedback, make suggestions or demand that particular ethical procedures are followed.
THEN ONCE APPROVED you can carry out your research.
