Att - Explanation for attachment

Question 1

What is the learning theory of attachment and its evaluation

Answer 1

• Sometimes called ‘cupboard love’
• Classic conditioning; involves associating the two stimuli together; getting food naturally gives the baby pleasure. The baby’s desire for food is fulfilled whenever its mother is around to feed it so an association is formed between mother and food. Therefore, whenever the mother is around the baby will feel pleasure - i.e. ‘attachment’
• Operant conditioning; involves learning to repeat behaviour; crying is positively reinforced by attention; attention is negatively reinforced by crying stopping. More it happens, the more its reinforced. Can explain attachment behaviours for examples why babies cry for comfort
• Food is primary reinforcer(innate), mother is secondary reinforcer (association)

EV:
- Reductionist; tries to explain complex attachment using simple stimulus-response processes
- Lots of research into learning theory uses animals (skinner’s rats-operant, pavlov’s dogs-classical) so findings are not always generalisable
- Schaffer and Emerson’s findings found that half of the infants did not have their mothers as there primary attachment which does not support this theory
- But, it has a lot of support from scientific research

Question 2

What was Bowlby’s theory of attachment and its evaluation

Answer 2

• The monotropic theory; argued that something like imprinting occurs in humans
  4 main claims:
• Evolutionary; we have evolved a biological need to attach to our main caregiver to ensure survival from child to maturity
• Monotropy; we form a special attachment to one particular caregiver which is different and more important than others
• Internal working model; forming an infant attachment gives us a ‘template’ for all future relationships. ‘Working’ as it can change and develop over time
• Critical period; first three years of life critical for attachment. If attachment does not develop (due to separation or death etc.) a child will find it much harder to form one later. (link to maternal deprivation hypothesis)

EV:
- Lorenz found that goslings formed attachment to the first moving thing they saw, suggesting attachment is an innate process. This supports the evolutionary aspect of Bowlby’s monotropic theory
- Schaffer and Emerson found that infants form multiple attachments rather than one
- Socially sensitive research; bowlby’s report led to an increase in stay-at-home mothering. This had an effect on the economy as less women were going to work