Explanations of attachment: Learning Theory

Question 1

What did Dollard and Miller propose?

Answer 1

• caregiver-infant attachment can be explained by learning theory and takes the cupboard love approach because it emphasises the importance of the caregiver as a provider of food

Question 2

Classical conditioning

Answer 2

• learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other

Question 3

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 3

food

Question 4

Unconditioned response

Answer 4

being fed gives us pleasure

Question 5

Neutral stimulus

Answer 5

caregiver

Question 6

how does the mother go from a neutral stimulus to the conditioned stimulus?

Answer 6

when the caregiver provides the food over time they become associated with food and when the baby sees this caregiver there is an immediate expectation of food

Question 7

What happens once conditioning takes place?

Answer 7

the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure

Question 8

Operant conditioning

Answer 8

learning to repeat behaviour or not depending on its consequences

Question 9

positive Reinforcement

Answer 9

if a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, that behaviour is likely to be repeated again

Question 10

Negative reinforcement

Answer 10

a baby crying leads to a response from the caregiver e.g. feeding and the baby then cries for comfort who responds with comforting social suppressor behaviour. when the crying stop , the caregiver is escaping from something unpleasant which reinforces their behaviour.

Question 11

Primary drive

Answer 11

hunger, an innate biological motivator

Question 12

Secondary drive

Answer 12

attachment to caregiver as a result of them providing food learning to an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of primary drive

Question 13

What is a limitation of Learning theory?

Answer 13

contradicting evidence from Lorenz and Harlow

• Loren’s geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them
• Harlows monkey preferred a soft surrogate compared to a wire one that dispensed milk

Question 14

Why Is Learning theory ignoring other factors associated with forming attachments an issue?

Answer 14

factors such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity have been associated with good quality attachment e.g. Isabella et al

• other studies have shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive carers that pick up infant signals and respond appropriately

Question 15

If attachment developed purely as a result of feeding…

Answer 15

there would be no purpose for complex interactions and we and we would not expect to find relationships between them and the quality of infant-caregiver attachment