Learning by association. Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way that we respond to the other.
Who founded classical conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, discovered classical conditioning through his experiments on digestion in dogs.
He observed that dogs began to salivate not only in response to food being presented but also to neutral stimuli associated with food, such as the psychologist's footsteps or a metronome.
Pavlov realised that these neutral stimuli became associated with the presentation of food, leading to a conditioned response of salivation.
How is classical conditioning applied to attachment?
In the case of attachment:
Food serves as an unconditioned stimulus
Being fed gives pleasure, does not need to be learnt (unconditioned response)
A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus (produces no response)
When the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food
When the baby sees the caregiver they expect food
The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus
The sight of the caregiver now gives a conditioned response
