Learning theory

• How do animal studies counter the learning theory?

  • Lorenz' goslings imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless of food
  • Harlow's monkeys sought contact comfort from the cloth-wire mother even if she had no milk showing no support for the importance of food
  • Shows factors other than association with food are important in attachment formation
• How do human studies counter the learning theory?

  • Schaffer and Emerson found that babies tended to form specific attachments to their mothers regardless of whether she was their usual feeder
  • Isabella et al. found associations between high levels of interactional synchrony and secure attachments
  • These further the idea that other factors may be more prominent in the development of human attachment