Learning Theory of Attachment

• Learning theory explains that attachment is simply the result of classical and operant conditioning. This comes from the Behaviourist Approach.
• The idea is that infants instinctively derive pleasure from being fed. Food acts as an unconditioned stimulus, and the unconditioned response is one of pleasure
• The mother acts as the neutral stimulus, and if she feeds the infant she becomes associated with food, until eventually the mother becomes a conditioned stimulus.
• A limitation of the learning theory of attachment is that it assumes that the single most important factor in forming an attachment is food. Attachments will be made to the person who feeds us, however Schaffer found that 50% of infants were most strongly attached to someone who was not their mother despite being breast fed.
• Another limitation is that Harlow & Zimmerman conducted research on monkeys, which challenges learning theory because it suggests that attachment is much more about an emotional need than it is about food.