Why do we form attachments Flashcards
Outline the learning theory of attachment.
The learning theory of attachment believes that attachment is learned when babies form an association between the caregiver and the food, which causes them to be happy when they see us, thus a strong attachment.
attachments are learned and maintained through the process of classical and operant conditioning.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:
Food is the unconditioned stimulus
Initially, the caregiver is the neutral stimulus. Happiness is the unconditioned response. Overtime, as the caregiver feeds the baby, the baby begins to form an association between the caregiver and the food. The caregiver has now become the conditioned stimulus, and the happiness in response to caregiver, the conditioned response.
OPERANT CONDITIONING:
Babies learn to stay near the caregiver, in order to avoid the unpleasant feeling of being hungry. So, therefore the action of staying close to caregiver, has been reinforced through negative reinforcement.
Outline Harlow and the monkeys
AIM: To investigate the learning theory of attachment.
Harlow separated 8 monkeys from their mothers, and raised them in a laboratory, where they grew up in isolation.
The monkeys were tested in a controlled laboratory setting.
They were divided into 2 groups ( 4 monkeys in each group).
Both groups were presented with 2 mothers ( one was made out of cloth, and one was made out of wire).
The IV was, which mother would provide the food (milk).
In group A, the cloth mother would provide the food, and in group B, the wire mother would provide the food.
They then measure the amount of time spent in both groups, with either the cloth mother, or the wired mother.
He found that the baby monkeys always preferred the cloth mother in both groups, regardless of wether she had food or not.
He concluded that attachment is driven by comfort, and not by food
Evaluate Harlow and the monkeys research
STRENGTHS:WELL CONTROLLED, more control over extraneous variables, however less ecological validity.
WEAKNESSES: 1 HARDER TO EXTRAPOLATE findings to humans, because humans are more complex than animals.
2. UNETHICAL , because babies have been separated from mothers at young age.
evaluate the learning theory of attachment.
STRENGTHS:RESEARCH SUPPORT BY DOLLARD AND MILLER : , they conducted an observation. they counted how many times the babies were fed by their caregivers, in the first year of their lives.
They found that in the first year of their lives, babies get fed 2000 times.
This therefore supports that the learning theory of attachment may be believable, however this is not direct evidence.
WEAKNESS: 1. NOT SUPPORTED BY METAPELETS IN ISRAEL:
Metapelets were special foster moms, which would feed and take care of the babies, during the day.
according to the learning theory of attachment, the babies should have attached to them, because they were providing them with food.
However, this was not the case, babies were still attached to their real mothers, despite not being fed by them.
- CONTRADICTING RESEARCH ( Harlow and monkeys).
outline Bowlbys monotropic theory of attachment.
He believed that babies are biologically pre-programmed to form an attachment,and that us caregivers are also biologically pre programmed to respond to babies, and thus form an attachment. This happened through evolution.
The theory has 5 main aspects to it:
- Social releasers: behaviours which infants perform, in order to get the attention they want from their caregiver. for example, kicking, crawling, crying etc.
- Monotropy: this means that in the beginning, the attachment formed between caregiver and infant is unique and one of a kind.
3.The critical period: The time window, during which infants can form an attachment to their main caregiver. it is the first 2,5 years of life. If no attachment formed in this video, then no attachment can be formed after.
4 INTERNAL WORKING MODEL: Our expectations and beliefs about relationships with other people, come from our early childhood.
Our internal working model is a schema for relationships, that we build from our attachment to our caregiver.
- Adaptive: Attachments are adaptive, meaning that they give our species an adaptive advantage, which makes us more likely to survive.
Outline Lorenz and the Goslings.
AIM: Lorenz wanted to investigate wether attachment was biologically pre-programmed, or formed through experiences.
method: he conducted an experiment in a group of unhatched geese.
He split the geese eggs into two groups. One group was left to hatch normally, in the presence of mother goose, and one group hatched in an incubator, away from their mother, and Lorenz made sure that he was the first hing they saw, when they hatched.
The geese in the control group, which had hatched normally to their mother , immediately attached to the mother,
The geese in the incubator, immediately attached to Lorenz.
Even when the geese in the incubator were reunited with their mother, they still wouldn’t form an attachment to her, instead insisting on being near Lorenz.
He concluded that attachment is formed immediately after birth, and that attachment is biologically predisposed.
The way the ducklings attached is known as imprinting ( attaching to first thing you see when born).
Lorenz also found out that once the geese have formed an attachment, they couldn’t form an attachment to someone else, which proves bowlbys point of monotropy.
Evaluate Lorenz and the Goslings.
WEAKNESSES: 1.RESULTS MAY NOT GENERALISE TO HUMANS , because the study was conducted on baby geese, and baby geese may have a different mechanism of attachment than humans.
2 THE RESULTS OF HIS STUDY ARE NOT REPLICABLE, In a separate study Guiton et al investigated imprinting in chickens.
Guiton found that chickens do in fact imprint immediately after birth, howeve, he also found that this imprinting can be reversed.
The baby chicken could form an attachment to someone else, even after an attachment has been made.
Therefore Guitton findings contradict the idea of monotropy in attachments.
Evaluate Bowlbys theory of attachment.
STRENGTH: 1. REAL WORLD APPLICATION
2.RESEARCH SUPPORT - Lorenz and the goslings.
