Explanations of attachment: learning theory

Question 1

Cupboard love

Answer 1

-Cupboard love is a theory based on the principles of the learning theory; an infant forms an attachment to the mother because they are providing food

Question 2

Classical Conditioning in the case of cupboard love theory

Answer 2

-The mother starts off as the neutral stimulus, producing a neutral response in the baby (no response)
-The unconditioned stimulus is the food, which produces an unconditioned response in the baby (pleasure)
-as the mother is always present when the baby is being fed, the baby then associates their mother (neutral stimulus) with the unconditioned response of food
-This causes the mother to change to the conditioned stimulus, that produces the conditioned response in the baby of pleasure from feeding

Question 3

Operant conditioning in the case of cupboard love theory

Answer 3

-Positive reinforcement: is when a behaviour is made more likely to occur by providing a pleasurable stimulus; in the case of attachment, the baby cries and receives food from the parents, therefore the baby is more likely to cry to try and get more food
Negative reinforcement: is making a behaviour more likely to occur by removing the unpleasant stimulus; in the case of attachment, the parent’s feeding behaviour is negatively reinforced, as the baby stops crying when it is fed

Question 4

Attachment as a secondary drive

Answer 4

-Drives are the desire to complete an action
-Primary drives are instincutal and not learn as they are required for survival and reproduction e.g hunger, thirst, sleep
-Secondary drives are learned as they ultimately help to satisfy the primary drive
-According to the cupboard love theory, infants learn to form an attachment with their caregiver (secondary drive) because they learn that it will ultimately satisfy as primary drive (e.g hunger)

Question 5

Positive evaluation of learning theory explanation of attachment (face validity)

Answer 5

-The learning theory explanation of attachment has face validity; we can see that babies cry more when they learn that the crying behaviour leads to more attention, and ultimately food

Question 6

Positive and negative evaluation (lots of research backing up LT) but this level of control cannot be done on babies

Answer 6

-The basic principles of learning theories that make up this explanation are supported by a large amount of well controlled research, increasing confidence of people on the theories associated with it
-However, it would be impossible to conduct a highly controlled experiment on human babies due to ethical concerns and practicality

Question 7

Negative evaluation of learning theory explanation for attachment (Environmental reductionism)

Answer 7

-The learning theory explanation of attachment can be criticised as being environmentally reductionist
-Behaviourists argue that attachments are learned behaviours that results from associations and reinforcement
-However, most parents would disagree with this statements and argue that the relationship with their infant is much more complex and that they consciously choose to care for their infant

Question 8

Negative evaluation of Cupboard love theory (Harlow)

Answer 8

-There is evidence that rejects the cupboard love theory
-Harlow’s study found that infant monkeys did not form attachments with the surrogate mother made up of exposed wire that provided milk, but did form an attachment with the “cloth mother” that did not provide food
-This suggests that attachment is not learned but instincutal/innate