Explanations for Attachment: Learning theory

• What is learning theory?

  + basic principle that all behaviour is learned, not innate

  + learning theorists are also called 'behaviourists'

  + all learning is a result of conditioning - person or animal trained to give response to a stimulus
• What is classical conditioning?

  + learning through association

  + learned response is produced when two stimuli are linked together

  + discovered by research from Pavlov on conditioning dogs to salivate when hearing a bell
• What are the three stages of classical conditioning?

  + before learning - infants born with innate reflex responds to unconditioned stimulus which creates an unconditioned response

  + during learning - caregiver begins as a neutral stimulus carer providing food over time is associated with pleasure - becomes conditioned stimulus

  + after learning - carer becomes a source of pleasure independent of whether food is supplied and infant has learned a new stimulus response link, becoming attached to the carer
• What is operant conditioning?

  + learning from consequences of behaviour though positive and negative reinforcement

  + behaviour likely to be repeated if there is a pleasant consequence

  + negative consequence (punishment) leads to response not being repeated again

  + linked to drive reduction - innate need that causes changes in behaviour
• What does reinforcement do?

  + increases the frequency of desirable behaviour

  + positive - applied stimulus

  + negative - removes stimulus
• What does punishment do?

  + decreases frequency of undesirable behaviour

  + positive - applies stimulus

  + negative - removes stimulus
• What are the psychological processes in hungry babies in terms of operant conditioning?

  + hungry infants cry and are in the 'drive state'

  + drive motivates infant to find some ways to lessen discomfort of being hungry

  + being fed satisfies infant's hunger and makes him/ her comfortable again

  + results in rewarding drive reduction
• How does operant conditioning work with infants and caregivers?

  + infants learn that food is rewarding - primary reinforce

  + person supplying food becomes secondary reinforce

  + infant seeks person because they are a source of reward and infant has become attached
• What is a primary drive?

  + hunger is an example of a primary drive

  + an innate, biological motivator - we are motivated to eat to reduce hunger drive
• What did Sears et al. (1957) suggest about caregivers and primary drives?

  suggested that as caregiver provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them
• Why is attachment a secondary drive?

  learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive
• Strength of learning theory: Research

  + laboratory research on classical and operant conditioning are reliable due to high levels of control

  + learning theory has strong support by researcher who conducted animal studies on conditioning e.g Pavlov and Skinner
• Strength of learning theory: Dollard and Miller (1950)


  + infants fed around 2000 times in first year of life

  + usually by primary caregiver - frequent enough to learn a conditioned response
• Limitations: Food is not the only factor

  + we do learn by conditioning

  + food may not be the only factor, interaction and comfort are also important

  + Harlow (1959) demonstrated that infant monkeys were attached without food to a cloth mother - goes against learning theory
• Limitations: Lack of support from human and animal studies

  + imprinting was first shown on first moving object seen by geese (Lorenz)

  + Schafer and Emerson (1964) found even if babies were not usually fed by mother, this was still their main attachment

  + suggests food is not sole factor for attachment formation
• Limitations: Reductionist

  + theory reduces complexities of human behaviour to simple ideas

  + infants have shown multiple attachments to those not involved in feeding (Schafer and Emerson (1964))