Learning theory

• According to learning theory, attachment is learnt through experience. Attachments are seen to develop through an infant learning to assosciate a caregiver with feeding. It uses the ideas of classical conditioning (assosciation) and operant conditioning (consequences) to explain attachment.
• According to classical conditioning, infants become attached due to assosciating the primary caregiver with food. A neutral stimulus is then paired with the primary caregiver to produce a conditioned response. The baby learns to assosciate the caregiver with food.
• According to operant conditioning, the attachment develops through a process of reinforcement.

  • Positive - crying for food is reinforced and caregiver becomes a source of reinforcement. (reward)
  • Negative - caregiver receives negative reinforcement by feeding child to stop the crying.

  The interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment.
• A03

  Dollard and Miller

  • supporting evidence
  • found that in babies first years of life they are fed 2000 times which creates ample opportunity for the carer to become assosciated with the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger
  • this supports the idea that attachments are learnt through operant conditioning
• A03

  Schaffer and Emerson contradict this theory as they found that 39% of infants had a primary attachment with someone other than the person who usually fed, bathed or clothed them. This means that attachments are formed through other factors such as emotional security.
• A03

  Harlow's research challenges this theory as the monkeys spent longer on the cloth surrogate than the wire mother with a feeding device; if an attachment was made due to food, they would spend longer on the wire surrogate.
• A03

  Bowlby challenges this theory as he believes that we form an attachment for survival and safety. He suggested that infants only need feeding occasionally but constantly need emotional security. Therefore the behaviourist explanations are reductionist as it explains attachment as simply just feeding and does not consider mental processes or the emotional factors.

  • also ignores other factors such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity