Learning theory attachment

• Who are the psychologists behind the learning theory?

  Dollard and Miller
• What are the main assumptions of the learning theory?

  1)Dollard and Miller call it the cupboard love approach as it emphasises the importance of the attachment figure being the provider of food.

  2)States attachment behaviour is learned as we are all bornt tabla rasa.
• What are the two ways attachment is learnt?

  1)Classical and operant conditioning
• What is classical conditioning?

  Learning through association.
• What is the unconditioned stimulus in the learning theory?

  Food
• What is the neutral stimulus in the learning theory?

  The caregiver
• Write the equation for classical conditioning:

  Before conditioning:

  Caregiver(netrual stimulus)=no response

  Food(unconditioned stimulus)=Pleasure(unconditioned response)

  Druing conditioning:

  Caregiver(netrual stimulus)+food(unconditioned stimulus)=Pleasure(unconditioned response)

  After conditioning:

  Caregiver(conditioned stimulus)=pleasure(conditioned response)
• Explain classical conditioning in learning theory:

  Dollard and Miller believed that before conditioning food acted as a unconditioned stimulus which produced the unconditoned response of plesure and the caregiver was the netrual stimulus which had no response. Druing conditioning food(UCS) and caregiver(NS) was paired togther to give pleasure(UCR). After conditioning the baby learns to associate the caregiver and food so now the caregiver is the conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response of pleasure. This explains how attachment is formed.
• What is meant by operant conditioning?

  Learning by consequence
• What is Dollard and MIllers explanation of attachment?

  The drive reduction theory.
• What is meant by 'drive'?

  A drive is something which motivates behaviour.
• Dollard and Millers positive reinforcment using operant conditioning and the drive reduction to explain attachment

  The baby will get a drive to reduce the discomfort of being hungry and will result in the baby crying. Then the primary caregiver(PCG) will try to console the child by feeding them. This creates a feeling of pleasure for the baby and therefore they stop crying(drive reduced)this is rewarding for the baby. This results in the babies crying being likeily to repeat in the future. The baby has been positively reinforced.
• Dollards and Millers negative reinforcement using opernant conditioning and the drive reduction to explain attachment

  Baby's perspective= Baby is hungry so begins to cry, then they are fed by PCG and the hunger feeling has been reduced meaning the negative stimuli has been switched off. This results in baby more likeily to cry in the future.

  PCG perspective= Hears baby cry so then feeds baby quickly. This turns of the negative stimuli of the baby crying so feeding behaviour is more likeily to be repeated in the future.
• What is the primary drive?

  Hunger
• What is the secondary drive?

  Attachment bond with primary caregiver.
• What is a weakness of this theory?

  P=Lorenz's study contradicts learning theory

  E=Lorenz's gosslings imprented on the first moving object they saw regardless if Lorenz had food or not.

  C=Therefore suggests that attachment is a innate behaviour and has nothing to do with the provision of food.
• What is a weakness of this theory?

  P=Harlow and zimmerman contradicting evedinence.

  E=Found that when baby monkeys where scared they seeked comfort with the cloth monkey who had no food instead of the wired monkey who had food.

  C=Harlow suggested that attachemnt is based on contact comfort instead of the provision of food.
• What is a weakness of this theory?

  P=The learning theory is founded in animal research

  E=Behaviourists often used animals such as pigeons,rats and dogs to carry out research which ignored the fact human behaviour is more complexed and higher emotions

  C=Therefore the learning theory lacks population validity and cannot be generalised to humans
• What is a strength of this theory?

  P=Theory was founded in the established theory of behaviourism which is plausible and scientific.

  E=Behaviourism introduced the natrual sciences into psychology due to the controlled environments and had high validity

  C=Therefore behaviourism has many factors such as replication,credibility and status which help founded psychology as a science.This means the association between the provision of food and primary caregivers leads to attachment due to the credibility of the learning theory.
• What is a weakness of this study?

  P=Bowlbys theory contradicts the learning theory

  E=Bowlby believes that attachment is a innate behaviour all babies are bornt with for evolutionary purposes whereas this contradicts thelearning theorys idea of being bornt tabla rasla and attachment being a learnt behaviour.

  C=Therefore Bowlby disagrees with the learning theory due to the innate drive for babies to survive and reproduce.