learning theory

• overview of learning theory

  learning to associate food with their caregiver is what creates the attatchment
• classical conditioning


  associating two stimuli so the response to one transfers to the other

  before:

  food-UCS > happy baby-UCR

  during:

  food-UCS + caregiver-NS > happy baby-UCR

  after:

  caregiver-CS > happy baby-CR
• operant conditioning


  interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens the attatchment

  -its a two way process:

  • crying is reinforced because it gets food
  • mother receives negative reinforcement because crying stops

  food=primary reinforcer and caregiver=secondary reinforcer
• AO3 - evidence against- animals

  studies showed that animals do not imprint on or attatch to those who feed them

  lorenz and harlow
• AO3 - evidence against - humans

  glasgow baby study - many of the 60 babies developed a primary attatchment to their mother despite other carers doing most of the feeding

  =feeding is not the key element so theres no primary reinforcer/drive involved
• AO3 - other factors

  meltzoff found that the quality of attatchments is associated with reciprocity=responding and interactional synchrony=mirroring
• AO3 - reductionist and other factors

  -reductionist = human behaviours are much more complex than simple stimulus/response models

  -ignores temperament(innate behaviour), social factors and culture