LEARNING THEORY AO1

• Classical Conditioning:

  • Babies have a natural response to food- need it to survive
  • Children love and attach to those who feed them 
• Processes of Classical Conditioning in LT:

  
  

  BEFORE CONDITIONING:

  UCS (food) -> UCR (happiness / pleasure)

  NS (caregiver) -> no response

  
  

  DURING CONDITIONING:

  UCS (food) + NS (caregiver) -> UCR (happiness / pleasure)

  
  

  AFTER CONDITIONING:

  CS (caregiver) -> CR (happiness / pleasure)
• Operant Conditioning:

  • Positive Reinforcement- baby cries, mother gives it food (reward), so they repeat the behaviour 
  • Negative Reinforcement- removal of something negative (caregiver stops baby crying e.g. by giving it food), so they repeat the behaviour (continue to give the baby food)

  They both STRENGTHEN THE ATTACHMENT between the INFANT & CAREGIVER