Learning theory

• Why is Miller and Dollard's approach known as 'cupboard love'?


  It emphasises the importance of an attachment figure as a provider of food.
• What does classical conditioning involve?

  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.
• How does classical conditioning work in the context of attachment?

  Food serves as an unconditioned stimulus. Being fed serves as an unconditioned response (as we don’t need to learn that). A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus (something that produces no response), however when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food. When the baby then sees the person there is an expectation of food as the neutral stimulus has now become the conditioned stimulus. Now conditioning has taken place, the sight of the caregiver produces the conditioned response of pleasure.
• What does operant conditioning involve?

  It involves learning from the consequences of behaviour.
• What is positive reinforcement?

  Positive reinforcement is a technique used to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior by providing a reward or positive consequence after the behaviour occurs.
• What is negative reinforcement?

  Negative reinforcement is a technique used to decrease the likelihood of a desired behaviour by providing a punishment or negative consequence after the behaviour occurs.
• How does operant conditioning work in the context of attachment?

  Operant conditioning explains why babies cry for comfort. Crying leads to a response from the caregiver (eg. Feeding) and as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced. The baby then directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with ‘social suppressor’ behaviour.
• How is the reinforcement of crying/getting fed a two-way process?

  At the same time the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops (which is unpleasant for them). This interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment.
• What did Sears suggest about the concept of drive reduction?

  He suggested that as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is thus a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive.
• Why is there counter evidence from animal research?

  Animal studies have shown that young animals do not necessarily attach/imprint on those who feed them. For eg. Lorenz’s geese imprinted before they were fed and Harlow's monkeys sought comfort over food, showing that attachment didn’t develop as the result of feeding. The same must be for humans as theorists believed humans and animals were equivalent.
• Why is there counter evidence from human research?

  Research with human infants showed that feeding doesn’t appear to be an important factor in humans. For eg. In Schaffer and Emerson’s study many of the babies developed a primary attachement with the mother even though it was others who did most of the feeding. These findings are a problem for the learning theory as they show that feeding isn’t the key element, disregarding primary drive and classical conditioning.
• How does the learning theory ignore other factors associated with forming attachments?

  Research into early infant-caregiver interactions suggest that the quality of attachment is associated with factors like developing reciprocity and good levels of interactional synchrony (Isabella et al). In addition, studies have shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive carets that pick up infant signals and respond appropriately.