WEAKNESSES

• WEAKNESSES OF LEARNING THEORY?

  • research
  • issues and debates
• WHAT RESEARCH PROVIDES EVIDENCE AGAINST LEARNING THEORY?

  • Schaffer and Emerson
  • Harlow
• WHO DID SCHAFFER AND EMERSON STUDY?

  group of Scottish children, in 1960s
• WHAT WERE THE FINDINGS OF SCHAFFER AND EMERSON'S RESEARCH?

  over half children were primarily attached to someone who didn't feed them
• WHAT DID SCHAFFER AND EMERSON'S RESEARCH SUGGEST ABOUT LEARNING THEORY?

  food is overestimated in it, and overall it lacks explanatory power
• WHAT DID HARLOW STUDY?

  monkeys growing up in a controlled, isolated environment where they were removed from their mother
• WHAT WERE THE MAIN FINDINGS OF HARLOW'S STUDY?

  spent up to 22 hours a day with cloth mother, and only returned to wire mother when they were desperate for food
• WHAT DOES HARLOW'S STUDY SHOW ABOUT LEARNING THEORY?

  food is not the primary reinforcer as the monkeys attached for comfort
• WHAT DO THE FINDINGS OF HARLOW'S STUDY SUGGEST ABOUT LEARNING THEORY?

  it is limited in the extent it can explain attachment
• WHAT IS A COUNTERPOINT OF HARLOW'S RESEARCH?

  must be cautious when extrapolating animal research to humans
• WHY MUST WE BE CAUTIOUS WHEN EXTRAPOLATING ANIMAL RESEARCH TO HUMANS?

  human attachment is more sensitive with different elements, such as language
• WHAT IS ONE THEORY THAT ARGUES AGAINST LEARNING THEORY?

  evolutionary theory of attachment
• WHAT DOES EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF ATTACHMENT SUGGEST?

  we are born with an innate need to attach
• WHAT DOES EVOLUTIONARY THEORY BETTER EXPLAIN THAN LEARNING THEORY?

  why babies are born with social behaviours that elicit care (e.g. smiling/ laughing) or why they are able to mimic human interactions
• WHAT DOES EVOLUTIONARY THEORY SUGGEST ABOUT LEARNING THEORY?

  incomplete as it ignores potential biological influences