Learning theory - Behaviourism

• What is behaviour learnt through?

  Conditioning
• What is the basis of classical conditioning?

  Association
• What is classical conditioning in terms of attachment?

  • A baby is born with reflexes.
  • The food produced is delivered by the caregiver and is associated with that same caregiver.
  • As a result, the mother becomes a source of pleasure independent of whether the food is present or not. 
• What is the basis of operant conditioning?

  Reward
• What is operant conditioning?

  • Rewarded behaviours are repeated and reinforced.
  • After the feeding, the hunger drive reduces
  • The caregiver who provides the food that reduces the hunger drive
  • They are seen as the secondary reinforcer, making the baby become close and this creates attachment. 
• What is a positive evaluation regarding the scientific experiments behaviourism is based on?

  • It is based on scientific experiments carried out on animals in lab experiments like Pavlov’s dog study or Skinner’s rat study.
  • Extraneous variables allow inference of cause and effect.
  • Association and rewards therefore lead to attachment.
  • It can then be inferred that feeding leads to attachment. 
• What study contradicts that feeding does not lead to attachment?

  • Attachment is supposedly linked to feeding but however this is not the case as seen in Harlow’s monkeys
  • Harlow (1959) showed rhesus monkeys went to the cloth covered mum when they were frightened by a mechanical toy drummer even when the wire mother had initially fed them
  • This shows that the idea of feeding leading to attachment is flawed.
• What certain key study also shows opposing evidence for behaviourism?

  • Evidence for why feeding does not lead to attachment comes from Shaffer and Emerson’s ‘glasgow baby’ study.
  • They found that in about 40% of human infants the adult who fed and bathed was not the most attached to the baby
  • It was rather the person who was able to be responsive and provide some sort of stimulation like playing.
  • Feeding linking with attachment is flawed.
• Why is the learning theory reductionist?

  • Learning theory is too simple
  • It reduces complex behaviour of attachment down to learning through rewards and association
  • This is known as reductionism
  • There are also other factors of attachment such as the evolutionary theory which states that attachment is innate and promotes survival of the infant
  • Learning theory therefore only focuses on nurture and not nature