Learning Theory Of Attachment Flashcards
What is the cupboard love approach?
Infants attach to the person who provides them with food.
What is the main assumption of learning theory (in explaining attachment)?
We learn from the environment because we are all born as blank slates.
Thus, infants learn to develop attachment through the processes of classical and operant conditioning.
Which 2 researchers proposed the cupboard love approach?
John Dollard and Neal Miller.
How do infants develop attachment through classical conditioning?
Food (UCS) = Happy baby (UCR)
Mother (NS) = Normal baby (No response)
Food (UCS) + Mother (NS) = Happy Baby (UCR)
Mother (CS) = Happy baby (CR)
What is drive reduction theory?
When an animal is uncomfortable, this creates a drive to reduce that discomfort.
How do infants learn to form attachments through operant conditioning?
When child is hungry they experience discomfort and have a drive to reduce this. They will cry which causes mother to feed them and drive is reduced= feelings of pleasure. Acts as negative reinforcement- infant has escaped something unpleasant.
Behaviour that led to being fed= more likely to be repeated—brings caregiver closer and leads to development of attachment.
What is the primary and secondary reinforcer in operant conditioning?
Food= primary reinforcer (supplies reward)
Caregiver= secondary reinforcer as they bring the food (they are associated with the food).
Is this reinforcement a one or two way process (learning theory)
Two-way. When mother feeds baby, she escapes the unpleasant crying of the baby (negative reinforcement)
2 Limitations of learning theory
Contradictory research from animals and humans:
There is strong evidence in young animals to show that feeding has nothing to do with attachment. Lorenz’s geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them. Harlow’s monkeys attached to a soft surrogate which provided contact comfort in preference to a wire one that dispensed milk.
Isabella et al. (1989) found that high levels of interactional synchrony predicted quality of attachment not feeding.
Environmental reductionism:
Breaks complex behaviour down into simple stimulus and response chains, and focuses on the role of food. Attachment is complex and a range of factors influence attachment, such as interactional synchrony, reciprocity etc. Therefore, this approach to explaining attachment is too simplistic.
1 Strength (and counter) of learning theory
Some evidence supports conditioning:
Infants do learn through association and reinforcement. It may be that attention and responsiveness from a caregiver are important rewards that assist in the formation of attachment.
E.g., Schaffer and Emerson found that infants were more attached to the caregiver who showed higher levels of sensitive responsiveness and they will have learnt to do this
through association.
COUNTER-Both classical and operant conditioning explanations see the baby playing a passive role in attachment development- simply responding to associations with comfort or reward. But research shows that babies take an active role in the interactions that produce attachment which means that conditioning may not be an adequate explanation of any aspect of attachment.
