Explanations For Attachement

Question 1

The who theories that explain attachments

Answer 1

Learning theory- attachments learned through interaction with caregivers who provide food, warmth and comfort (nurture)

Evolutionary theory (bowlby)- the desire to form attachments has evolved as it helps infants to survive (nature)

Question 2

Learning theory of attachment

Answer 2

Classical conditioning:
Milk–>pleasure
Mum–> pleasure

Operant conditioning:
-food is rewarding as it makes the baby feel better again, as its rewarding and is called a primary enforcer. The person who feeds him becomes the secondary enforcer.

Question 3

Bowlby’s monotropic thoery

Answer 3

ICCM!
I- innately programmed to attach
C-critical period to attach in
C- continue to influence later relationships 
M- Monotropy - one attachment.

Question 4

Evidence for innate programming

Answer 4

Lorenz- goslings
Carpenter- face matching voice
Meltzoff and Moore- interactional synchrony
Oxytocin- a neurotransmitter that contributes to feelings of love between parents and children.

Question 5

Evidence for continuity hypothesis

Answer 5

Myron-Wilson smith - bullying

Hazan and shaver- love quiz

Question 6

Evidence for critical period

Answer 6

It’s thought now that children can form attachments even if they haven’t in the first few months of life.

Question 7

Evidence for Monotropy

Answer 7

Schaffer and Emerson- found most babies have 1 primary attachment, but 87% had multiple attachments by 18 months.

Rutter- rejects the idea of Monotropy and argues a child’s internal working model of relationships is likely to by affected by a range of different attachments in childhood.