A: Explanations of attachment: Learning theory Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is classical conditioning?
- Learning through association.
- A neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually takes the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response.
What is Learning Theory?
The name given to a group of explanations (classical & operant conditioning), which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies or higher order thinking.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement.
What is social learning theory?
Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded.
What does learning theory propose about behaviour?
- All behaviour is learned rather than inborn.
- When children are born, they are ‘blank slates’ and everything they become can be explained in terms of the experiences they have.
Learning theory is put forward by behaviourists who prefer to focus their explanations solely on what?
- Behaviour- what people do rather than what may or may not be going on in their minds.
- Behaviourists suggest that all behaviour (including attachment) is learned through classical or operant conditioning.
Who was classical conditioning first investigated by?
What does the process begin with?
Pavlov.
- Begins with innate stimulus response.
- The innate stimulus = food which produces the innate (unlearned ) response of pleasure.
Food = UCS
Pleasure = UCR
Classical conditioning- Pavlov
What happens during an infants early weeks and months?
- Certain things become associated with the food because they are present at the time the infant is fed.
- Might include the infants mother, the chair that she sits in to feed her infant or some sounds that might be present.
- These things are called neutral stimuli. (NS).
Classical conditioning
What happens if any neutral stimulus is regularly and consistently associated with a UCS?
- It takes on the properties of the UCS and will produce the same response.
- So the NS now becomes a learned or conditioned stimulus (CS) and produces a conditioned response (CR).
The person who feeds the infant moves from being an NS to being a CS. Just seeing this person gives the infant a feeling of pleasure (a CR). Learning theorists called this newly formed stimulus-response ‘mother love’.
What are the discussion points for learning theory as an explanation of attachment:
- Learning theory is based on animal studies
- Attachment is not based on food
- Learning theory has limited explanatory power.
- Drive reduction theory is limited
- There are alternative explanations for attachment.
Learning theory
Write a peel paragraph discussing how learning theory is based on animal studies:
P - Criticised as it is largely based on animal studies.
E - Behaviourists believe that humans are actually no different from other animals, as behaviour patterns are constructed from same basic idea of stimulus and response, and therefore results from animals can generalise to humans.
E - However, non-behaviourists argue that complex behaviours, like attachments, involve innate predispositions and mental activity that could not be explained by conditioning.
L - So, learning theory may lack validity because it presents and oversimplified, reductionist view of human behaviour.
Learning theory
Write a peel paragraph discussing how ‘attachment is not based on food’.
P - Limitation is that it suggests that food is a key element in attachment.
E - Strong evidence to show feeding has nothing to do with attachment. Harlow (1959) showed rhesus monkeys were most ‘attached’ to wire mother that provided contact comfort and not food.
E - Although Harlow’s studies uses animals, it can be applied to humans and is supported by Schaffer and Emerson’s research into the stages of attachment.
L - So, learning theory is oversimplified/reductionist and ignores other factors like contact comfort.
Learning theory
Write a peel paragraph discussing how ‘learning theory has some/limited explanatory power’:
P - A strength is that it can explain some aspects of attachment.
E - Infants do learn through association and reinforcement, but food may not be the main reinforcer. It may be that attention and responsiveness from a caregiver are important rewards that assist in the formation of attachment.
E - Such reinforcers are not included in the learning theory. Alternatively, it may be that infants imitate responsiveness and thus learn about how to conduct relationships.
L - So, learning theory may not provide a complete explanation of attachment but it still has some value.
Learning theory
Write a peel paragraph discussing how ‘drive reduction theory is limited’:
P - Drive reduction was popular in 1940s, but is no longer used for a number of reasons.
E - It can only explain a limited number of behaviours - for example, people do many things that do not involve reducing discomfort and sometimes do things that increase discomfort, like bungee jumping.
E - Also, it doesn’t accurately explain how secondary reinforcers work - reinforcers that do not directly reduce discomfort but are reinforcing.
L - Thus, drive reduction theory is incomplete and reductionist.
Learning theory
Write a peel paragraph discussing ‘the alternative explanations for attachment’:
P - A main reason learning theory was rejected was because a better theory was developed.
E - This was Bowlby’s theory, which can explain why attachements form, whereas learning theory can only explain how they form. For example, Schaffer and Emerson’s findings that infants are not always most strongly attached to the person who feeds them.
E - Learning theory aslo offers no explanation of the benefits of attachment. According to Bowlby’s theories the benefits include protection from arm and thus increased survival rates.
L - Bowlby’s theory offers a more complete explanation of attachment than learning theory.
