Theory of attachment Flashcards
What’s operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement.
Positive and negative reinforcement (avoiding a negative consequence) increase the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated.
Punishment decreases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated. (unpleasant consequence)
What did Dollard and Miller (1950) create and what does it involve?
Created the first theory of attachment- learning theory.
Highlights the importance of the caregiver providing food for the child- “cupboard love.” Simply, the child learns to love the person that feeds them.
Based on Classical & Operant conditioning principles.
How does operant conditioning link to babies?
Operant conditioning explains why babies cry for comfort- an important feature for building attachment. Crying leads to a response from the caregiver usually feeding- as long as the caregiver gives the correct response, the behaviour e.g. crying is reinforced. For the child crying & feeding is positive reinforcement but for the caregiver it is an example of negative reinforcement. The baby is fed to stop them crying.
What is drive reduction and what did Sears suggest about this?
Hunger is a primary drive to infants, it an innate biological motivator, we are motivated to reduce our hunger from birth!
Sears (1957) suggests that as the caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger gets generalised to the caregiver.
Attachment is therefore a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive.
What are the strengths of the learning theory of attachment?
Practical application. Whilst a lot of learning theory has been discredited with other evidence, it still has some practical application. Association (classical conditioning) between the primary caregiver and provision of comfort and interaction can form the basis of attachment, it makes logical sense. Means the learning theory has applicability to real life attachment formation.
Has been useful for further development of attachment theories. A new explanation has been built on this – social learning theory of attachment. Hay and Vespo (1988) suggest that parents do learn attachments from parents but more by role modelling attachment behaviours, eg hugging them and one another displaying love and affection. Therefore this is a strength because the Learning theory has provided the basis for a more logical explanation and therefore has some albeit limited, applications to attachment.
What are the limitations of the learning theory of attachment?
Counter-evidence from Animal Studies - Harlow & Lorenz. A lot of animal research that shows that young animals don’t form attachments (imprint) on those who feed them. Lorenz - geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw not the first person to feed them. Harlow - preferred the “soft” mothers rather than the wire mothers that fed them. This is an issue for the Learning Theory because it contradicts the idea that attachments are based on feeding.
Ignores other factors associated with forming attachments. Ignores Reciprocity & Interactional Synchrony and how these two features are important in the quality of attachments that are formed. It is difficult to accept that attachments are solely based on feeding alone- there must be other factors that help shape attachments between babies and their caregivers.
