learning theory a03

• One limitation of learning theory There is strong evidence to show that feeding has nothing to do with attachment.

  • This was shown through harlow’s monkey study as all spent the most time with a mother that provide contact comfort rather than food. SOme argue this can't be generalisable to the complexity fo human nature however these results again LT have been suggested in human studies
  • schaffer and emerson less than half of humans are attached to the person who regularly feeds them evidence against the basis of learning theory.
  • Israeli Kibbutz communities (Fox) still securely attached to mother even though a diff nurse fed them
• is overly simplistic and doesn't give a full picture of attahcmnet behaviour. One example- drive reduction theory, which forms part of the learning theory’s explanation, is no longer widely accepted, as while useful for explaining basic motivated behaviors, has limits in explaining complex human behaviors, such as those driven by social, cognitive, or emotional factors, and doesn't account for behaviors that don't reduce drives or actions that cause discomfort rather than reduce it. Furthermore learning theory suggests 'how' attahcments form but fails to explainy 'why' for example Bowlby's theory-an alternative explanations explains why it evolved- as a behaviour to give the best chance of survival as attachment protects infants from harm. Therefore are alternative explanation which provide much better holistic and accurate explanations for attachment 
• There is evidence to support how the learning theory of attachment suggest attachments are formed.E-For example, Skinner demonstrated that as a result of positive reinforcement rats could be conditioned to press a lever for food.E- It is estimated that a child is fed nearly 2000 times in the first year.L- Therefore it seems likely that stimulus response links would form between a child's response such as crying and beingBiven food by their caregiver

  hopwever is difficult to generalise animal findings to human attachment as this is a complex emotional bondbetween an infant and their caregiver.