Lesson 5 - Learning Theory Of Attachemnt

Question 1

What does learning theory state

Answer 1

All behaviour is learned rather than being innate or inherited from parents. People learn behaviour though two types of conditioning:
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning

Question 2

How does classical condition cause attachment

Answer 2

An infant is born with certain reflex responses, for example the unconditioned stimulus of food produces the reflex (unconditioned response) of pleasure. The person who provides the food to the baby is a neutral stimulus, but overtime get associated with the feeling of pleasure when brought with food. The person then becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces pleasure as a conditioned response

According to classical conditioning, this is how attachment bond develops, and the real reason why children feel pleasure in the presence of their parents

Question 3

How does operant conditioning strengthen attachment?

Answer 3

Baby receives positive reinforcement for crying when they are hungry and caregiver feeds them. And the caregiver receives negative reinforcement for feeding the baby to stop the cry8g.

Question 4

Evaluation of classica conditioning

Answer 4

+Learning theory is plausible as it is founded in established theory. It is likely that association between the provision of needs, and those providing those needs can lead to strong attachments

• Harlow separated Rhesus monkeys at birth and put them in cages. Milk was provided by either a bare wire mother, or one covered in cloth. However both were in the cage. Monkeys clung to soft cloth mother especially when frightened, even if it didn’t provide milk. Suggesting that comfort is more important than food in determining whom the baby will attach to

-Schaffer and Emerson also found food isn’t essential for attachments to form. They found that babies are attached to those who play with them, rather than those who feed. In 39% of cases, despite being fed by the mother, they were more attached to someone else.

-This theory explains how attachments form but not why. According to bowlbys theory, attachment forms with their caregiver ti ensure they are protected.

-Learning theory is environmentally reductionist as it explains an overly complex human behaviour in an overly simplistic way. The infant caregiver relationship is very varied and sophisticated and there are many types of infant caregiver attachments. Therefore the formation of attachment is unlikely from just merely providing food. It’s environmentally deterministic as is states that early learning determines later attachment behaviours